The Good Mother

"We were told that the leaders were given the power to bind or to lose us from heaven. If I died suddenly, which I always believed was a high possibility, and I didn't meet Hopeful's definition of a good woman of God, I would go to hell."

To survive in Gloriavale, you must submit. And for the first 27 years of her life, that's what Rosie Overcomer tries hard to do - live a life of a complete obedience, serving the church above all else to ensure eternal life for both her and her children. But once her eyes are opened to what is really going on in the secretive religious sect, she can't look away.

The Good Mother is a blisteringly honest memoir about what it takes to endure life in Gloriavale and what it costs to leave. But it is also a love story. Because it is Rosie's marriage to Elijah that strengthens her quiet defiance, and the birth of their first daughter that makes her realise there is no safe future for any child in Gloriavale.

What follows next will see her and her family threatened, kidnapped and separated from each other, all while Rosie becomes what the leaders at Gloriavale fear most: a powerful threat against their cruel and isolating religious cult. This explosive new memoir is both a reclamation of identity and a testament to the power of love - and what a mother will do for her children.