Bethany Joy Lenz’s sharp memoir traces how she became involved with a cultish group called the Big House Family, which took advantage of her for 10 years. Lenz, known for starring on the 2003-2012 drama One Tree Hill, found the “family” after moving to Los Angeles when she was 20 and joining a Bible study, where she met a pastor who would come to control several aspects of her life. While at first she found companionship in the group, that feeling eventually soured. Lenz writes that she financially supported several members of the group, including her now ex-husband, through her TV earnings—and when she finally managed to leave, after having her child, she writes that she discovered they had wiped almost $2 million from her bank account. In riveting detail, Lenz recounts how she finally broke free.
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Write to Mahita Gajanan at mahita.gajanan@time.com