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Not Without My Sister: The True Story of Three Girls Violated and Betrayed by Those They Trusted

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Authors: Kristina Jones, Celeste Jones, Juliana Buhring
Publisher: Harper Element
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

19 reviews
Sales Rank: 2192

Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 1.5

ISBN: 0007248075
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.760922
EAN: 9780007248070
ASIN: 0007248075

Publication Date: January 7, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: new

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 6-10 of 19

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powerful reading February 6, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

In the past, I have read various stories and articles on 'the children of god' or 'the family', and it has always been a topic of interest for me. I read this book in two days, i just couldnt put it down! the more i read the horrific accounts from kristina, celeste and juliana, the more i read on, desperately hoping they would soon break free from the clutches of the cult. no child should be born into such a sick and domineering existence. it outraged me to discover that that sick disgusting paedophile david berg died comfortably in his bed. he was a sick pervert who brainwashed people. his associate karen zerby, is also a sick paedophile who needs to be caught and brought to justice. it makes me feel sick to know that there are still innocent children being born into that cult everyday, who need protecting from these perverts.
i think kristina, celeste and juliana are so very brave for writing this book and exposing the family and berg and zerby for what they really are. it must of been so traumatic for them to revisit their painful childhoods, but i hope it has also been healing, and it was lovely to read that they now are living their lives as free women. i just hope that one day soon, the cult are exposed and the perverts who call themselves 'leaders' and 'gods prophet' are brought to justice.

5 out of 5 stars

Not Without My Sister January 30, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

What a fantastic book. I had heard of The Family before (as I believe River Phoenix grew up within The Family) but had no idea of the evil within the cult. The three girls who wrote this are an inspiration and should be given a medal for bringing this atrocity to our attention. I just hope that this book can open peoples eyes.
It's a great read and I would thoroughly recommend it.

5 out of 5 stars

An emotional insight September 10, 2007
4 out of 6 found this review helpful

There are few things that bring tears to my eyes but this book did. It's a look at the lives of three British women who grew up in a group where abuse and deprivation were the norm, and they had no realistic way of escape until they were adults. At times the story reads like a Bond thriller, jumping from Greece to India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Japan ... the reader may even forget that the individuals featured were small children when the events described took place.

Apparently some have accused the authors of exaggeration or fabrication, but I wonder what motive they would have for that? It seems to be a common belief in society that victims of abuse tend to become abusers themselves, so I imagine that publishing this book with all of the gory details of their past required a great deal of courage. Whatever money the authors make from sales could not possibly compensate the potential damage to their reputations. I say, kudos to them, and I hope that reading about their horrible experiences can somehow help us to reduce the risk of abuse that other children face.

5 out of 5 stars

True to Life August 25, 2007
14 out of 17 found this review helpful

This book does an excellent job of capturing, in a matter-of-fact narrative delivered in unembellished prose, a picture of what it was like to have been born circa the 70's to parents who joined the "Children of God" cult (which now goes by "The Family International"), and to have been raised there.

Although I grew up in "Family" cult communes in another continent half a world away, not knowing the authors (except for seeing videos and pictures of Celeste Jones at Music With Meaning, which the cult published and circulated), as I read "Not Without my Sister" I recognized the various directives from the cult leaders' "letters" that the authors mentioned - and the unfortunately mirrored consequences when the adults around us implemented those directives on me and the other children around me.

So many of the incidents that the 3 authors recount and the trademark environments, atmosphere and modus operandi during the various phases of the cult's history, echo uncannily with what I experienced and saw when I was confined in that insular world. Like the authors as children, it was the only world I had ever known; escape from servitude and a better future seemed impossible dreams. I think the authors handled particularly effectively the challenge of communicating, in a direct and almost conversational manner notably devoid of melodramatics, a child's inner experience of confusion and entrapment in the face of cult-approved and sponsored molestation and exploitation delivered by the perpetrators in tones of religious devotion and of being all "sweetness and light". Disabling distress is felt when one has no other frame of reference to confirm the unruly feelings that all was not well, feelings that went against something we were raised to think was "of God" while surrounded only by grown-ups who embraced that ethos (or were not sufficiently concerned about us children to confront it).

I should note for others raised in that cult that the reading brought back so much of what I experienced and saw that at times the painful memories were too much to continue and I had to put the book down for a time. If, on the other hand, you are unfamiliar with the cult, you may wonder why I would continue reading when that was the case. This brings me to one reason why it is so important that a book has finally been written about childhoods in a cult that has sunk enormous efforts and resources into rewriting its history (aided by certain "academic" types and others that have come within its sphere of influence) in its pursuit of recognition, acceptance and the resulting financial success it craves, all while being unwilling to make reparations to the children who were abused by it. There is a source of pain far greater than bad memories, which can be lethal to sanity and hope: being told that what you remember did not happen, that you are crazy, that you are lying. It is maddening enough when it is various perpetrators; it is absolutely devastating when it is, say, a parent.

As part of the first wave of children born into captivity in the "Family", I ran away one pre-dawn into the unknown, a minor in a 3rd world country at a time when those born in the cult did not leave it (unless, say, you became a runaway, perhaps never heard from again). I had never met or spoken with any relatives outside the cult to whom I could turn.

For what seemed like forever, I felt so alone without anybody else who could bear witness to what happened. I had no examples to show that there could be a future after that childhood, that one could get an education and carve out a fate other than the self-destruction the cult predicted for its "backslidden" children. If I were to dare that today, I would have this book, and my suffering would be immeasurably lessened.

In fact, back then, Kristina Jones' was one of the first voices I heard that bore witness. It seems that her sisters Celeste and Juliana take after that same courage.

This book strikes a blow against child abuse in all its guises, because the perpetrators' wager is that even if you live, you will not tell. However, this book also renders a very specific public service because, while The Family International may not be original among child abusers in the crimes it committed against children, it definitely pushed the envelope in its sustained operation - under the guise of a "Christian" movement - of an international clandestine conspiracy that carried out, covered for and profited from such exploits as child abuse, rape, incest, kidnapping, false imprisonment, torture, child slave labor and trafficking, prostitution, money laundering and medical neglect of minors (like me - I suffered severe and irreversible consequences affecting basic physical functions) and of vulnerable adults, which neglect sometimes resulted in negligent homicide, as my case almost did.

The Family International is now intent on strengthening its foothold in respectable circles that do not know its past, often putting forward as Project Managers of its charities (projects which more often than not focus on vulnerable youth) cult members who severely abused children. The constituencies that it is targeting have a right to know who they embrace or champion.

Perhaps progress will bring the day when institutions such as the USA's Internal Revenue Service will be informed enough so as to stop granting to the Family Care Foundation and other alter egos of such enterprises as The Family International the aegis under which to make millions through tax exemptions (or other governmental assistance or subsidies).

1 out of 5 stars

Makes you wonder... August 21, 2007
8 out of 23 found this review helpful

This is a controversial book to many that were born and raised in the COG, I don't want to get into the, who is right and who is wrong argument, but I will say this much.
I was on this webpage the other day and read several negative comments about this book, yesterday when I came back to see other reviews I noticed that they were all taken down. I don't know that much about Amazon but I do know that people have a right to their opinion (and I have seen some pretty bad ones regarding some books) and taking down everyone's post that had a negative opinion was I thought rather strange.
If you are scared of criticism then don't write a book on a controversial subject. And btw some of those same posts are still up on the US Amazon site so it's not because they were against the review guidelines...
Makes you wonder.