Tara Westover’s memoir ‘Educated’, is a powerful story of a Mormon upbringing in rural Idaho during the 1990s.

She realises at an early age that the only way to escape her extraordinary and brutal family is to leave home, get an education and find her own way.

Tara, the youngest of seven children, had no birth certificate, no medical records and no schooling. Her father, a religious fanatic who was convinced the world was going to end at the millennium, was controlling in the extreme.

He ran a scrapyard where the children, including Tara, were expected to help out. There were horrendous accidents none of which were treated by a doctor.

The mother sides with her husband whilst practising “muscle testing” and “energy work”. Tara suffered physical abuse from one of her brothers.

She writes with compassion. Her prose is exceptional, the story compelling. There is no blame just a sadness that in order to achieve her goal she must sever all ties with her family.

There are gruesome descriptions but overall this is a book of self determination, showing the power of education – Tara gained a PhD at Cambridge University.

Tara was saved by the power of books or as she herself puts it in the last line of the book – “an education.”