Wall was born into a polygamous family in Salt Lake City and grew up attending the FLDS-run Alta Academy.

She describes her living situation as tense; familial relations were further complicated when her mother was reassigned to marry another man in Hildale, Utah.

During their four-year marriage, Steed abused her sexually and psychologically, and Wall eventually began an affair with Lamont Barlow, a 25-year-old former member of the FLDS.

Barlow later persuaded her to leave the church and to press charges against Steed and Warren Jeffs, the FLDS "prophet" who performed the wedding ceremony.

[3] The FLDS is a Mormon denomination that split from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) following the latter's decision to outlaw polygamy in 1890.

[6] The mandated undergarments covered their full form, "from the wrist to the ankle and right up to the neck", while makeup, tattoos, and piercings were not permitted.

[5] The first major crisis in Wall's early life occurred when she was 13 and her mother was reassigned to marry another man, Fred Jessop.

[8] As her marriage with her cousin fell apart, she began to spend nights sleeping in her truck, and at that point met former FLDS member Lamont Barlow.

He was arrested in August of the same year while travelling in Nevada "in a red Cadillac found to contain $54,000 in cash, 15 mobile phones, three iPods, laptop computers, a police scanner, a stack of credit cards and two female wigs, one blonde and one brunette".

[5] In January 2008, HarperCollins publishers confirmed that Elissa Wall was writing a "tell-all" memoir that was scheduled to be released in April of that year.

The book provided the background for Wall's life inside of the FLDS and focused on her marriage to Allen Steed, whom she portrayed as "boorish and odd".

[18] Pulitzer describes herself as "the official cult gal" as she enjoys writing escape stories and is able to make the subjects of her work more comfortable during the process.

"[15] Attorneys for Steed and Warren Jeffs were dismayed by the decision to publish the book before the conclusion of the court case, believing that it would hinder their clients from receiving a fair trial.

[20] After it was determined that there was no evidence that the children were unhealthy, mistreated, or in danger of suffering abuse at the hands of the FLDS, they were returned to the ranch.

[20] Elissa Wall, who participated in the raid by "[educating] the Texas officials on the people", publicly defended the state's actions, saying, "They have reason to fear that the girls are being married and having children at way too young of an age.

At Utah's Purgatory Correctional Facility, he suffered from infected ulcers on his knees, which resulted from praying days on end during solitary confinement.

[24] Elissa Wall's cousin and ex-husband Allen Steed was charged with first-degree felony rape after Jeffs' first conviction in 2007.

[1] Caroline Leavitt from People Magazine wrote, "Coming on the heels of the raid on the FLDS compound in Eldorado, Wall's story couldn't be more timely.

Her descriptions of the polygamous sect's rigidity are shocking, but what's most fascinating is the immensely likeable author's struggle to reconcile her longing for happiness with her terror of its consequences.