Escape is the dramatic true story of one woman’s life inside the ultra-fundamentalist American religious sect, the FLDS, and her courageous flight to freedom with her eight children.

When she was eighteen years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger: a man thirty-two years her senior. Merril Jessop already had three wives. But arranged plural marriages were an integral part of Carolyn’s heritage. Born into and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), Carolyn endured years of psychological abuse and the watchful eyes of other wives locked in a constant battle for supremacy.

Carolyn’s every move was dictated by her husband’s whims. He decided where she lived, how her children were treated, and controlled the money she earned as a school teacher. Carolyn was miserable for years and wanted out, but she knew that if she tried to leave and got caught, her children would be taken away from her.

In 2003, Carolyn chose freedom over fear and fled her home with her eight children, with only $20 to her name. Her escape exposes a world tantamount to a prison camp, created by religious fanatics who deprive followers of the right to make choices, brainwash children in church-run schools, and force women to be totally subservient to men.

Against this background, Carolyn’s flight takes on an extraordinary, inspiring power. Not only did she manage a daring escape from a brutal environment, but she also became the first woman ever granted full custody of her children in a contested suit involving the FLDS.