I purchased the ebook via the author's website.
My review:
McFarland writes to an audience that most mainstream people do not even really know exists. While the popularity of the Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar family on TLC means that the average American has at least heard of the homeschooling, fundamentalist-Christian, Quiverfull lifestyle, few realize what day to day life for a child in such a setting can be like. Fewer still are aware of the ramifications of such environments for the spiritual state and self-image of the children, and particularly of the female children, long into adulthood.
It is to these daughters that Hilary McFarland writes. She is careful to remind her readers that she does not presume to address minor children, and instead focuses exclusively on the grown female children of fundamentalist-Christian patriarchal families, with an emphasis on those from large families.
Even well-meaning parents who strive to lead godly families can cause pain. When true biblical principles are mixed in with the misguided teachings of extreme Quiverfull and patriarchal leaders, the pain can be deep, destructive, and lasting. McFarland exposes spiritual abuse within the church and the family unit for what it is, and she contrasts it with the healthy church and family structures mandated in the Bible.
Her tone is kind and full of compassion, encouragement, and grace, which will be sorely needed by the women for whom she writes.
The organizational structure is loose, as is the voice. The compartmentalization of the author's current persona and her past as "Luna" can also be confusing and disconcerting. Still, these characteristics lend validity to McFarland's admission that she herself had to write and journal through her own healing process, and provides one example to her readers of how this may be done.
Highly recommended for adult children of families that emphasized parental control and children's unquestioning submission.
