Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly, The

Minnow Bly has just survived a fire that destroyed the polygamist religious cult she has lived in for 12 years, has beaten a boy almost to death, and is sentenced to a female detention centre. Minnow refuses to reveal what happened at the closed community until an FBI agent offers her a deal: her freedom in exchange for the truth. The novel, revealed in flashbacks and in the present, raises themes of hierarchy, structure, power, and systemic oppression. Due to its mature content of misogyny and oppression against women by physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, and verbal violence, it is suitable as a whole class or lit circle novel with those themes addressed by the teacher.