Lost Boy

by: Brent W. Jeffs with Maia Szalavitz

Published by: Broadway Books (May 19 release)

Reviewed by Andrea Sisco

Brent Jeffs was born into polygamy. His family was members of The Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and related to the infamous Warren Jeffs, President and Prophet of the FLDS who is currently in custody.

Brent Jeffs was sexually assaulted by his uncle Warren Jeffs as a young boy and brought a sexual abuse lawsuit against him in 1994. The charges ultimately began the investigation process that found Warren Jeffs on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list and later convicted of several crimes.

Brent Jeffs takes the reader on a journey into the life of an FDLS member and the ride is painful and disturbing. The FDLS community is “closed” and that allows for child abuse, both physical and sexual; the slavery and abuse of the women’ corruption by the powerful leaders; and the expulsion of young boys (thus the term “lost boys:) who compete with the older men for the women.

Lost Boy is not your typical memoir. Brent Jeffs gives a great deal of background of the FLDS community and his family history. He discusses what it is like to have more than one mother, the abuse by Warren Jeffs–and the knowledge that he must take multiple wives in the future–or he wouldn’t be accepted into the community.

Lost Boy is a must read in order to understand the dangers of the FLDS cult. But be prepared to live with the fact that there are thousands of women and children in the United States who still live in the darkness that is called polygamy and there is nothing being done to stop the abuse.

Be prepared to be shocked and to fight the tears that will come.

Armchair Interviews says: As dark as Brent Jeffs story is, it is also the story of a young man determined to succeed and move beyond his personal history.