The Lafferty Girl: Surviving Trauma, Abuse, and My Father's Crimes

by Rebecca Lafferty, Katie McNey

The messianic beliefs of radical LDS fundamentalists Dan Lafferty and his brother Ron drove them to commit an unspeakable crime.This is a riveting, raw, and unfiltered look at the Lafferty family saga from a daughter who lived it, and of her journey to self-love and forgiveness.
 
Rebecca Lafferty grew up with a volatile, erratic, and ultimately notorious father, Dan Lafferty. She carried the scars of her traumatic upbringing through childhood and into adulthood. But most of all, Rebecca carried the horror of learning about the cold-blooded murder of her aunt and infant cousin in 1984, perpetrated by Dan and Ron according to a revelation Ron had received—as profiled in the Jon Krakauer book and FX/Hulu series Under the Banner of Heaven.

Now, in this riveting memoir, Rebecca tells her own story of survival and healing. Her correspondence with Dan—serving life in prison—insights from relatives, and most importantly, her own lived experience, give her an astoundingly deep point of view on the lead-up to the tragedy and its aftermath.

In this book, Rebecca hopes to encourage other survivors of abuse and trauma to chart their own path to healing and peace.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Memoir, Cults, Audiobook, Autobiography, Biography

329 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 30, 2025

Reviews

[Jo Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m normally not a fan of rating a memoir, but I have to for my NetGalley review, so, I’ve opted for 5 🌟 purely for the courage and revisiting trauma that writing this book had to have taken.

First off if you’re looking for Rebecca Lafferty to focus solely on her fathers crimes your looking in the wrong place, you should read Under The Banner of Heaven instead and make way for the poetic licence that’s used in the book. What this is is Rebecca’s own story, her childhood experiences, the abuse she endured and ultimately how she has lived her life since. I think many will find inspiration in the pages, but I must admit to becoming easily distracted, there’s a lot of repetition, a lot of scripture quoting and a lot of quite in-depth focus on the various self help methods that the author has trialled throughout the years. I have a massive amount of admiration for the work she has put into herself to get to the place she’s in today.

I was quite surprised to note that the narrator is credited as Ivory Tiffin, I genuinely believed I was listening to the author, which is intended as a compliment.

Many thanks to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧

[Jess Svajgert · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: September 30, 2025

This book is written by the daughter of Dan Lafferty (radical Mormon who murdered his sister-in-law and niece in the name of god—written about in Under the Banner of Heaven) about her traumatic upbringing.

While the blurb tells us this is a memoir about her journey to healing, it’s mostly a journey through traumatic childhood, a normal adolescence of experimenting and mood swings, a young adulthood of bad relationships and bad decisions (while “putting it in god’s hands”), and the “healing” doesn’t even come into the picture until the last few pages. That “healing journey” starts with her calling her therapist unprofessional for suggesting she might have BPD and then saying the moment she senses the therapist wanted to give her a diagnosis, she decided to stop seeing her (all while taking a hypnotherapy course so she “could help people” …girl, what?!). She takes us on a wildly repetitive journey through so many failed relationships, that I lost track. The time hops in this are unnecessary and make more difficult to read than it already is.

I found it odd how the author speaks in first person as her 6-8 year old self. How are you writing a word for word play by play of daily life at the age of 7? Later in the book, she mentions when she started writing a diary, and it was years later…so it made me question the reliability of many scenes and conversations.

After finishing this, I feel icky. Most of the time is spent blaming others for her own actions, with only a fraction of accountability/reflection shown in the last few pages, but she also says the bad decisions she made were because she was “vibrating at a low level.” This tries hard to show that she can make her own choices now but there is still a lot of “spiritual” anti-science/therapy, holistic, supplement/“organic” trad-wife BS.

This was not for me and I don’t think it’s for the general public, but may be a good solidarity read for others who have left abusive and high-control religions. This entire book is proof that those who dare to even tiptoe away from these high-control religions are not prepared for society at large and need a world of help and resources to acclimate.

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was quite a story written by the daughter of a murderous extremist religion killer, Dan Lafferty. He was the subject of Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven, and at least one show on a true crime channel. It talks about what happened, but is mostly about her story growing up with him, and how it affected her and her relationship with her family. The author shares a lot of insight on her life and relationships.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. Ok. Where to begin? I have always been interested in different religions and their histories. Mormonism is no exception, and with a rich history like theirs, and lots of scandal and changes and intrigue surrounding it, I was ready to dive into this book and even learn some new things. Under the Banner of Heaven was just an introduction to the real stories behind these men and women in the Lafferty family and those whose paths they crossed. Rebecca is one of the children of Dan Lafferty (his first). This story, despite the subtitle's clues, is really about her life and upbringing up to present day.
So you can really tell how sometimes religion--misused, misunderstood, misinterpreted, and terribly twisted can mess up the lives of people who are under the guidance of other people. Not the true God, but people. That is where the problems lie here and continue to unravel. At any rate, Rebecca has sadly (in my opinion) adopted all manner of religiosity from all over the place...lots of New Age and Eastern spirituality intertwined and picked and plucked and used at her will. I can certainly understand this after the way she was taught and then treated, and saw all the things others around her did in the name of some artificial god. But it was honestly heart-breaking to hear her story and how she tried to make sense of life happening around her. We all make mistakes, and I mean no judgment there at all. But I do sincerely hope she finds the Truth and can make sense of it under positive direction.
The narrator proved to be easy to understand but had a lilt in every sentence that didn't always match the content.
Thanks to NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for this ARC. All opinions are mine.

[CarolinaBookBliss · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lafferty Girl is a brave and heartbreaking memoir about Rebecca Lafferty's journey of healing after a challenging childhood with an extremist religious father.
Katie McNey's narration effectively conveys the emotions, and while the book didn't grab me as much as I'd hoped, I deeply admire the author's courage in sharing her story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hatchette audio for the opportunity to read and review this Advanced Release Copy.

[Read-n-Bloom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Title: Surviving Trauma, Abuse, and My Father’s Crimes
A Mormon Daughter’s Story

Author: Rebecca Lafferty w/ Katie McNey
Genre: Memoir/Nonfiction/True Crime
POV: Rebecca Lafferty
Publishers: Union Square and Company
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️


The Lafferty girl by Rebecca Lafferty is a compelling true story of the Rebecca in her childhood, tells of her father‘s crimes, and her thoughts through it all. I just rated it three stars because it was kind of slow for me reading, but it is a heartbreaking and devastating story. It’s a true crime story, but mostly about Rebecca’s trauma. It’s a tough read at times. There was some language, but only maybe 2 to 3 times in the book. There is a lot of mention of trauma and abuse and killing. If that’s hard for you to read this may not be the book for you but if you like to read of true crime and a witness to and of the trauma, you may like to read it. This is about the side of Mormonism that accepts polygamy and obviously abuse and killing. I know there is Mormonism that doesn’t accept this. Good for them. But Mormonism is just a religion I wouldn’t trust. Rebecca does not accept the Mormonism of her father. I’m glad she’s gotten away from it. I’m glad she’s healing from the trauma she faced. There were some things throughout her story that I didn’t agree with, but it’s her story. Thank you to Net Galley, the publishers, and the author for the ARC.

[Luca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shares the deeply personal and brave account of a healing journey from the abuse in childhood and wrong choices in adulthood that were shaped by these experiences. I appreciated the truth and the detail in the healing journey - in using, I would say, not typical ways to heal. I thought that was really interesting. Despite the connection to Dan Lafferty's crime, this is not a book about that and anyone who is interested truly in that will be disappointed. This book is Rebecca Lafferty's story first and foremost.

In moments I felt like some things were repeated throughout the book, which sometimes made it feel like it dragged on. Well written but sometimes felt slightly over-written. However, I thought the epilogue was something that was a really good ending to the book - hopeful and thankful. It made me leave this book with not such a heavy heart, which I think was exactly what the authors wanted to potray, even after all the suffering potrayed before.

[Allison Buie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Riveting but truly painful to read. I've been a bit-o obsessed-o with the Lafferty murders since reading Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven. Rebecca's account of growing up and her experiences as a child I found extremely fascinating. And you cannot help but be impressed that she, and her whole family, survived their awful family tragedy.

When she pivoted to some of her healing methods later on in life, I was mentally eeking and cringing for her. Some of those non-traditional methods, like relying on energy healers, psychics, etc... turned on the alarm bells for me and seemed ironic knowing Dan Lafferty's own spirituality. Although turning to "witchcraft practices" is familiar to me with some ex-Mormons I have encountered... I was predicating she would join a cult at every page turn, and was relieved that despite the near misses there was sort of a happy ending to her book.

[Patricia Q · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 This went from a 4 to a 3 to a 2 the further I listened. It was well written, it took her 15 years to finish but I got bored the last 3-4 hours of it.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was.....interestingly painful.

[Richard Propes · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who grew up in an environment of dysfunctional and abusive religion, there's no denying that I'm drawn to survivor tales like that of Rebecca Lafferty, the co-author and central subject in "The Lafferty Girl: Surviving Trauma, Abuse, and My Father's Crimes."

Lafferty is the daughter of Dan Lafferty, an abusive and narcissistic soul disguised as a prophet who was convicted, alongside brother Ron, of the 1984 murder of brother Allan's wife and 15-month old daughter, Erica, in what was called a divine revelation (HINT: It wasn't.).

While Dan Lafferty's case is dramatic enough, it was captured vividly by Ken Krakauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven" and in 2022 became a miniseries on FX on Hulu. "The Lafferty Girl" focuses, other than one chapter, on Rebecca Lafferty herself and her journey of surviving the trauma of growing up with Dan Lafferty as a father. Undeniably abusive as a father and husband pretty much from the get-go, at least that's my perception, Lafferty captures here what it was like to grow up in that home, survive that home, and then have to grow up dealing with the aftermath of having her father arrested for such a horrendous crime even as she spent many years in some degree of denial about the degree of his involvement.

As I began my journey with "The Lafferty Girl," I became rather enchanted by what comes off as an almost wide-eyed innocence about the world by Lafferty. As Lafferty grew into adulthood, it becomes clear she was ill-equipped, a direct result of her extensive trauma, to function in adult relationships, responsibilities, and even within her own family. What "The Lafferty Girl" captures vividly is how trauma influenced her worldview and how that worldview then came to help manifest less than healthy relationships and her own lack of self-love and acceptance.

Over time, this worldview began to change and heal as Lafferty began to experience, well, the world itself. Relationships that perpetuated the trauma gave way to healthier relationships and, perhaps more importantly, self-love and self-determination. Healing, often found through more alternative methods frowned up by her frequently Mormon partners, came when Lafferty stopped listening to everyone else and began listening to spirit and her own wisdom that she would increasingly learn to trust.

While I resonated deeply with Lafferty's story, I will confess to have grown weary of Lafferty's storytelling. At times, it seemed as if "The Lafferty Girl" could have been renamed "My Dysfunctional Relationship History" as much of the book centers around Lafferty's relationship history and how patterns of dating men with her father's traits seemed to repeat themselves. There's a repetition here that grows tiresome as relationships beared similar rhythms of dysfunction. While it's understandable that someone surviving trauma and abusive would lean into unhealthy relationship patterns (I sure have), one challenge as a writer is to find ways to manifest varying literary rhythms to avoid redundancy and to keep readers energized.

Honestly? I got a bit bored with "The Lafferty Girl" and this isn't the type of story that should ever get boring.

We're at a full 80% of "The Lafferty Girl" before we begin to get a real sense that Lafferty has truly entered a healing journey. While there are hints of healing and peace prior, we're nearing the end of "The Lafferty Girl" before we see Lafferty really embrace self-love and forgiveness.

It's difficult to rate a book such as "The Lafferty Girl," at times a truly riveting memoir and always a deeply meaningful one. While I had my issues with the way "The Lafferty Girl" is written, including the use of back-and-forth memory sequences that felt gimmicky and lessened the emotional impact for me, "The Lafferty Girl" is even within those concerns a powerful story of survival and healing that will resonate with trauma survivors, abusive survivors, and survivors of domestic violence. While graphic imagery is primarily limited to one particular chapter, "The Lafferty Girl" is vivid in capturing the before, during, and after life of those who experience trauma and are left to construct the pieces of life once the cycle begins to be broken.

Destined to be an encouragement to survivors of abuse and trauma, "The Lafferty Girl" is a powerful reminder that even through our darkest experiences we have the ability and power to chart our own path to healing and a better life.

[Nicole]

was sent an arc as part of publishers weekly's "grab a galley" event.

this memoir left me feeling


it's only 300 pages but halfway through, i was already of the opinion this could've been 150 pages without losing the message or the story. lafferty frustrates me bc this falls into the category of a memoir that's too self-aware. i was expecting her to recount more details about her childhood, and while she does, the first part of the memoir serves as a readers digest version of her childhood and the events leading up to her father's crime. and then the second half of the memoir follows her life post-crime and into her adulthood. however, the tone is distant; this would've benefited from a clearer narrative approach.

idk. there was something just off about the entire thing.

you need to have prior knowledge of the lafferty crime to get anything out of this book. lafferty keeps the details surrounding everything vague.

not gonna rate this one. if you have a true interest in learning more about the lafferty family, i think this would prove interesting for further research but idk. it's almost too niche for a general audience. and i'm inclined to say it's too self-aware to be accessible for readers looking for a survivor of childhood a.buse memoir.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm intrigued by cults so I always find memoirs like these interesting. This one didn't keep my attention though. Rebecca comes across as very naive and immature even at the end and she refuses to take any accountability for her actions/mistakes.

The book follows several of her relationships which gets repetitive as they all follow the same pattern yet she never learns from her mistakes. Whilst she doesn't condone what her father did she is still seeking his approval. Her upbringing has obviously had a huge impact on her life and her actions but ignoring therapy in exchange for more extreme religion was a choice.

I listened to the audiobook and I struggled with the narrator. She kept ending sentences with a higher inflection when it wasn't needed and it pulled me out of the book. The chaotic timeline shifts also made it harder to follow.

I read an alc

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been thinking about audiobooks for a long time. I'm the type of person who loves paper and the smell of a book, I like to physically hold it in my hands while reading. But I finally took the plunge and chose this book as the first audiobook I'm going to listen to. Was it strange to listen to it instead of reading it? A lot. Did I like this way of ''reading'' the book. I did.

This is a book in which Rebecca described her upbringing under a father who had his own vision of the world and how that world should look. She also described her upbringing under a father who committed murder and how the entire community viewed her and her family when she was still just a child.

I really liked the beginning of the book. The description of her upbringing and the way she sought her father's love are really well described. I was a little surprised that she remembers events from her early youth so vividly because I'm not sure how much that's possible, but okay. As the book went on, I have to admit that my attention span waned. Somehow the story went in a direction that I didn't really know what I was reading. This is her memoir, but she didn't really describe her entire life and the things that matter. Okay, she grew up in that environment and saw domestic violence, but later she just mentioned that she did drugs and had three children with three different men. But that wasn't introduced into the story at all. I think the part about drug use would have really helped show her struggle with life. Maybe if she had gone a little more into the story with her demons and everything she felt and how it transferred to her life. But that was all missing. Also, what type of mother was she? You never saw her relationship with her kids and how her bond with her father reflected in her upbringing them. The end of the book seemed more like she was preaching to me. And I really didn't like that.

Personally, I can divide the book into two parts and say that I definitely liked the first part because she really got to the heart of the problem and showed her feelings in a great way. But unfortunately I didn't like the second part of the book at all.

As for the narrator, everything was very good. Both the voice and the raised tones were very well done.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio for this ARC!

3.5 rounded down - The daughter of religious extremist Dan Lafferty from Under the Banner of Heaven shares her childhood experiences, how that shaped her self and world view and influenced her later in life experiences. She shares intimate hardships with relationships and motherhood and reconnecting with family. This raw memoir was an explorative dive into the authors psyche and emotional landscape. I am in awe anytime someone provides a first person narrative of trauma to strangers because of how deeply retraumatizing it can be.

The audio narration was well paced and performed and although it wasn’t the author narrating her own book, her strength and sitting in vulnerable moments of the story shines through and brings the personal touch to this first person account.

The reason this was not a 5 star, knocked it out of the park, for me was that there was way too much preaching. She shares a LOT about what self help strategies helped her through her healing journey but the way it was worded (lots of “we” and “us” as in her and the readers, not her and other people in her life) gave me the ick a bit. As if that has to be true for me, which it really isn’t and really made me dislike the story during those parts.

[Selena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad my library was sent this ARC! I have been obsessed with the book and show 'Under the Banner of Heaven' and I have always wondered what something like that does to the people left behind and Rebecca answered that question honestly and detailed. It was such fast paced read. I felt so bad for her growing up. I think the biggest take away I had was how vastly different the show portrayed Dan and Ron. Also how much emotion was in the story which I felt like Krakauer's book lacked (and I was okay with that since he's a journalist by profession.) I just wish Rebecca hadn't felt like she always need a man...so many surprise pregnancies...like how?! This is going to be a must read memoir this year.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow I haven't actually heard Rebecca's story before but I have followed Warren Jeffery's case to an extent they are fairly similar. This was dark and harrowing and hard to read at times but it was also beautiful and hopeful and has a great message to convey

[Caitie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 stars.

I’m usually very interested in books about different religions (especially the Mormons), but this was incredibly underwhelming. I appreciate what Rebecca Lafferty went through as a child, and how her father’s crimes impacted her, but this was not well written. There seemed to be a lot of “we did this as a family,” and “my father did this.” It made the narrative feel disjointed. I wanted to care, but I just couldn’t bring myself to feel that badly.

I don’t like giving someone’s memoir such a low rating, but I think it would’ve benefited from more exploration of her father’s crimes. I wanted to know more about why Rebecca’s father seemed to follow god’s will so deeply. Maybe I’ll have to reread Under the Banner of Heaven.

I was also left unsatisfied with how the author seems to have been healed from this experience. There seems to be little actual healing happening here in my opinion, because frankly I wouldn’t want to speak with my murderer father ever again. Another review also mentioned how it seems unrealistic (and unlikely) that Lafferty recalled that much of her early childhood—she talks about it in the first person, not as if her mother is recounting it—and then tend to agree that this is hard to believe.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really powerful memoir about the life of Rebecca Lafferty, the daughter of the infamous Dan Lafferty, a man whose religious beliefs led him to murder.

Rebecca’s story was so honest and deeply emotional. She held nothing back as she reflected on her childhood and how the lack of safety and attention left a mark on her adult life.

The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the narrator for the audiobook format. I felt their reading was a bit too emotive and dramatic at times, and since I knew it wasn’t the author’s voice, the tone felt disingenuous which isn’t ideal for a memoir about a traumatic background.

If you enjoy true crime and hearing directly from those impacted by the heinous actions of others, I’d recommend picking up The Lafferty Girl.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the opportunity to listen to an advanced version of this audiobook.

[Madison ✨ (mad.lyreading) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author has every right to decide what is and is not her story to tell, but the title is misleading. This is about her life, the majority of which did not include her father. I got very bored.

[Christel Nance · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a tough read. At first it was for the content. Then it was the writing. Rebecca grew up in a house of abuse and cult-religion. The trauma stayed with her for years afterwards.

Rebecca went through a lot in her childhood into adulthood. Her story is tragic. And her father is awful.

I had quite a few issues with this book. The writing was redundant and dragged on. She was in one relationship after another, and none of them were healthy. She wasn’t mentally healthy enough to be in a relationship, and she chose other mentally unhealthy people. She didn’t take any accountability for her own actions or the consequences that resulted from them. She was impulsive with men and never stayed single for long.

When she finally went to therapy, she got upset at the therapist for “labeling” her with a BPD diagnosis. I had to take a break after that. I don’t recall if she ever went back to actual therapy again or not.

Her path to healing didn’t start in this book until the very end. Even then she was talking about how independent she is, but her serial dating/marrying proves otherwise.

The narrator was soothing and easy to listen to. I enjoyed hearing her read.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.

[Chrystal Mahan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for The Lafferty Girl, especially given the notoriety of Dan and Ron Lafferty and the horrific crimes tied to their radical beliefs. While there are moments that touch on her father and his crimes, the book doesn’t dive as deeply into that part of the story as I expected. Instead, it felt more like a surface-level overview of Rebecca’s life with glimpses of trauma, faith, and healing.

As a memoir, it’s certainly her story to tell, but for readers coming in with an interest in true crime and a closer examination of her father’s role in the tragedy, this may feel underdeveloped. The narration by Ivory Tiffin was steady and clear, but couldn’t compensate for the lack of depth in the material.

A brave effort, but ultimately it left me wishing for more detail and less skimming.

[Samantha Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of The Lafferty Girls: Surviving Trauma, Abuse, and My Father's Crimes
2.5-3 🌟

This book is the true story of Rebecca Lafferty, who's dad (Dan) and uncle Ron were found guilty of murdering his sister-in-law and her baby, and her journey of healing. She grew up as a Mormon, but her dad was following previous beliefs from old LDS leaders (including plural marriage and the 'women stay home and obey the husband' theories).
Rebecca's mother met her dad when he was doing mission work and she was living in Scotland with two children from a previous relationship. The relationship started off ok, but had some issues with trying to be on the same page when it came to raising their kids. They went on to have more, but Rebecca always felt like the black sheep and thought something was wrong with her. She seemed to never be able to do anything right in the eyes of her dad. No matter how hard she tried to make him see how much she loved him, it never made a difference.
She continued to try and win his love and affection, but it only caused heartache, hurt, trauma, and pain. This book explores all of her trauma and pain. It takes you through relationship after relationship while she tries to find the love she is looking for that seemed to be lacking from her childhood. She married her first husband after they got pregnant, and continued this pattern in the next relationship. Rebecca wanted a better life for herself, but couldn't find a happy medium between freedom and being married. Her second child was born with a condition that required round the clock care (which I'm sure is hard), but she packed up her daughter and left her son with his dad to try and start a new life (again).
Back to Dan as he continued to follow his visions, Rebecca's mom continued to raise the family. He professed his visions to his brothers, who mostly seemed to be on board. One of his brother's had a pretty outspoken wife (Brenda) who told him that it was not a good idea. This is why he thought his higher power was telling him she needed to go. Although much of the book is about Rebecca's healing process, we did get to hear the details of the murder.
Rebecca gets pregnant again with her live-in boyfriend (which eventually became her husband). She makes it her mission to find resources to help her be the best parent she can be. She realizes that she is worthy of love, but has to be willing to accept it and everything that comes with it. But once again, she found herself falling for someone else. That next person was more like her father than the others.
Towards the end she finally realizes that she needs to heal herself instead of being codependent and relying on someone else to fill the voids. I'd been screaming this to her in my head throughout most of the book!

Pros: I think she learned a lot about herself on her journey. I'm hoping this book helps her continue healing. I can't imagine going through her life. I think of this as more of a self-help book which may help some people, just not what I expected.
Cons: The time-line was hard to follow at times and difficult to know her age at these stages. The repeated relationship struggles made it very predictable of how each one would end. I felt (as a mom) sad for her not wanting to take care of her children. Although she left Nathan with his father, you never heard much else about where Erin ended up until the very end. It was hard to read all the revelations she had towards the end, when I feel like her mom or partners could have helped sooner. There are parts of the epilogue that I wished would have been at the beginning to give you a better look at what you're reading.
Maybe I was eager to hear the whole story, but some of it was slow and repetitive which made it more difficult to get through.

[Sarah Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review: The Lafferty Girl: Surviving Trauma, Abuse, and My Father’s Crimes by Rebecca Lafferty (with Katie McNey)
Rating: 4.8/5

A Daughter’s Unflinching Reckoning with Monstrosity and Mercy
Rebecca Lafferty’s memoir is a seismic contribution to trauma literature, offering an intense point of view on surviving familial violence and fundamentalist extremism. Unlike Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven—which centered the Lafferty brothers’ crimes—this narrative spotlights the silenced women, weaving Rebecca’s correspondence with her imprisoned father, Dan Lafferty, into a tapestry of resilience and hard-won forgiveness.

As a reader, I was gutted by Rebecca’s portrayal of childhood volatility—how she carried the horror of her father’s actions while navigating the dissonance of loving a monster. Her prose oscillates between raw vulnerability (e.g., describing visits to Dan in prison) and clinical precision (e.g., her work as a hypnotherapist), creating a visceral duality that mirrors the healing process itself. The memoir’s greatest strength lies in its refusal to simplify trauma; Rebecca’s journey to self-love and forgiveness is messy, nonlinear, and profoundly human.

Yet, the collaboration with co-writer Katie McNey occasionally smooths over Rebecca’s voice. Passages on Mormon fundamentalism’s systemic misogyny—while vital—read more like academic interludes than lived experience. A deeper exploration of Rebecca’s siblings’ perspectives (mentioned only in passing) could have enriched the familial portrait.

Constructive Criticism
- Structural Tension: The timeline jumps between past trauma and present healing disrupts narrative momentum. A clearer thematic arc (e.g., grouping prison correspondence chronologically) might aid readability.
- Intersectional Gaps: While Rebecca critiques patriarchal violence, a broader analysis of how race and class intersect with fundamentalist abuse remains surface-level.
- Documentary Synergy: Though the Radical Media tie-in promises depth, the memoir’s standalone power occasionally feels secondary to its future screen adaptation.

Summary Takeaways:
- The Educated of fundamentalist survival stories—a daughter’s wrenching love letter to the self she rebuilt from ashes.
- Krakauer gave us the crime; Rebecca Lafferty gives us the catharsis. A masterclass in trauma alchemy.
- For readers who devoured The Glass Castle and I’m Glad My Mom Died—here’s your next healing obsession.
- Answers the burning question: Can grace coexist with unforgivable acts? Prepare to weep and wonder.
- A beacon for survivors: proof that breaking cycles begins with speaking the unspeakable.

Gratitude
Thank you to Edelweiss and Hachette Book Group for the advance copy. Rebecca’s courage to share such an emotionally gutwrenching story is a gift to trauma discourse.

Final Verdict: A transformative memoir that balances searing honesty with radical hope. Docked 0.2 for occasional narrative fragmentation, but essential for its genre-defying empathy.

Why Read It? To witness how inheriting the sins of parents doesn’t mandate repeating them, and how survival can be its revolution.

[J Kromrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in audio format.

🔦 In The Lafferty Girl, Rebecca Lafferty steps out from the long shadow of her infamous father, Dan Lafferty, to reclaim her voice and tell a story that is as harrowing as it is courageous.

Co-written with Katie McNey and narrated with haunting clarity by Ivory Tiffin, this memoir is not just a recounting of trauma—it’s a reckoning with generational violence, religious extremism, and the long, painful road to healing.

🧨 Rebecca was just a child when her father and uncle, driven by radical LDS fundamentalist beliefs, committed the brutal 1984 murders of her aunt and infant cousin—crimes that shocked the nation and were later chronicled in Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven. But while Krakauer focused on the killers, The Lafferty Girl centers on the survivor. Rebecca’s account reveals what it was like to grow up in a household ruled by volatility, control, and spiritual manipulation, and how the trauma reverberated through every stage of her life.

🎧 Ivory Tiffin’s Voice: Steady, Empathetic, Unflinching
Tiffin’s narration is a perfect match for the material. She delivers Rebecca’s story with a calm strength that never veers into sensationalism. Her voice carries the weight of the memoir’s darkest moments while also honoring its quieter, more reflective passages—especially those that explore Rebecca’s journey toward self-love, forgiveness, and reclaiming her identity beyond her father’s crimes.

💔 What sets this memoir apart is its refusal to flatten trauma into a single narrative arc. Rebecca doesn’t present herself as a perfect victim or a triumphant heroine—she’s a woman still wrestling with the echoes of her past. The book explores how abuse distorts memory, how silence can be both protective and corrosive, and how healing is rarely linear. Her relationship with faith, family, and her own sense of self is examined with raw honesty.

Personally, I found the account a bit repetitive, odd, and very religiously focused. Perhaps I should have expected this, however I suppose I expected more of a rejection of extremism religion than a desire to retain parts of it. The first person account of a child is understandably brutally raw.

📚 The Lafferty Girl is a powerful, necessary addition to the canon of survivor memoirs. It challenges the reader to look beyond headlines and into the lives of those left behind. With Tiffin’s empathetic narration and Lafferty’s unflinching prose, this audiobook becomes more than a true crime story—it’s a testament to resilience, agency, and the enduring power of telling one’s truth.

If you’re drawn to memoirs like Educated by Tara Westover or Know My Name by Chanel Miller, this one belongs on your shelf—or better yet, in your headphones.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rebecca Lafferty is the daughter of Dan Lafferty who murdered her aunt and baby cousin because God told him to. Dan's story is the focus of John Krakauer’s book Under the Banner of Heaven. You don't have to have read that book to understand this book. It is a really good book though so you should read it just for the sake of it.

Rebecca grew up in a strict Fundamentalist Mormon household. Her father, Dan, is clearly mentally ill and twisted Mormon doctrine to suit his needs. He was abusive and irrational. Her mother immigrated from Scotland and felt trapped in her situation. She stayed with him right up until he committed the murders.

The first part of Rebecca's book is about her childhood. She is still in contact with her father and visits him in prison. Because of this, she was able to offer his perspective on her childhood. He is still not well and doesn't seem to have remorse for what he did. He still feels like God was calling him to commit his crimes.

The second part of the book is about Rebecca’s life after her father went to prison. It’s been a journey to overcome the guilt and shame she feels because of what her father did. Because of that, she has made some poor choices throughout her life. She’s had a few bad relationships and has three children with different fathers. She sought healing from both traditional non-traditional methods, including hypnotherapy. She’s now a certified hypnotherapist.

I liked this book, but I was hoping for more on Rebecca’s childhood. That’s the main reason I picked this book because I love reading about cults and Dan Lafferty was a cult of two – him and his brother. A lot of Rebecca’s healing journey focused on “woo-woo” methods of healing and as a pragmatic person, that didn’t interest me.

If you’re interested in a more in depth look at Dan Lafferty’s crimes as well as the history of Mormon fundamentalism, I recommend reading Under the Banner of Heaven instead of this book. But if you’re looking to read a book about a woman’s journey to heal her childhood trauma that focuses more on her present than her past, then this is the book for you.

[Shelf Help Charms | Bethany · Rating 2 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️ (2.5 stars)

Thank you to NetGalley, Rebecca Lafferty, and Union Square & Co. for the Audiobook ARC of The Lafferty Girl: Surviving Trauma, Abuse, and My Father’s Crimes.

I was eager to dive into this book because of my own background as an ex-Mormon who grew up in Utah. That personal experience gave me a deeper understanding of LDS teachings and the cultural mindset that was so pervasive at the time, which added an extra layer of relatability to Rebecca’s story.

One of the highlights for me was the audiobook narrator. Her voice was calming, her pacing and inflection were spot-on, and she was very easy to listen to throughout.

Unfortunately, the book itself didn’t land as strongly for me. It felt overly long and repetitive, with the same points (particularly about how her childhood affected her relationships) repeated so many times that it began to feel copy-and-pasted rather than fresh or insightful. While I don’t doubt the validity of her experiences, the lack of editing made the narrative drag.

I also struggled with Rebecca’s reluctance to take full responsibility for some of her own actions. There were moments where a straightforward acknowledgment or apology would have been more powerful than deflecting blame. Similarly, I found it frustrating that she criticized a therapist for suggesting she might have a mental health condition, while simultaneously offering an armchair diagnosis of her father.

The dialogue sections between Rebecca, her family, and Dan could have been a powerful addition, but they often felt underdeveloped and didn’t provide the depth I was hoping for. And for readers looking for a closer examination of the crime itself, this book doesn’t really deliver on that front.

Overall, while I appreciated parts of Rebecca’s story and the excellent narration, the repetition, lack of accountability, and uneven execution kept this from being a more impactful read.

[Charlotte Towle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this memoir. One of the things that stood out straight away was how clear the narrator’s voice is – it feels honest and easy to follow, almost like she’s speaking directly to you. I also liked the way the story is broken down into different stages of her life, which gives it a natural flow and makes it easy to follow her journey.

What I appreciated most is that the author never tries to imagine how other people might have felt. She keeps the focus on her own thoughts and feelings. This makes the book feel very personal, authentic, and true to her perspective. I also found parts of it relatable, especially the craving for a full bottle of vinegar on chips during pregnancy, and even then it still not being enough! Those small details added warmth and humour alongside the more serious themes.

There were so many book quotes and recommendations woven throughout the memoir. It almost feels like the author is sharing her own reading list as part of her story, which gave me plenty of titles to look up afterwards. For example, she talks about 'Under the Banner of Heaven', which connects to her father’s story. After looking it up, I’ve already added both the TV series and the audiobook to my own lists.

That said, I did find the pacing dragged in places. And while the narration was mostly strong, a few mispronunciations stood out – for example, “Glasgow,” “Sonia,” “naivety,” and “potassium.” They’re only small slips, but they were noticeable given how clear the voice was elsewhere.

Overall, this is a powerful and interesting memoir.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me listen early.

[Leslie Oberhaus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first thing to know about "The Lafferty Girl" is that it is a memoir which focuses on Rebecca Lafferty's memories and experiences growing up with Dan Lafferty as her father. It does not focus on the infamous, horrible crimes that Dan Lafferty committed, but rather the effect of these crimes and his abuse of his family. Dan Lafferty's abuse and influence, and the aftermath of the murders he committed, had profound lifelong effects on Rebecca, and this book is her story -- her childhood and adolescence as well as her struggles with relationships, self loathing, and unresolved trauma throughout her life. For a true crime accounting of Dan Lafferty's crimes, read "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer. (There is also an FX on Hulu miniseries inspired by Krakauer's book with the same name.)

It's somewhat difficult to rate and review "The Lafferty Girl". On the one hand, it is a courageous and compelling memoir of living with trauma and its effects. Lafferty shares many memories from her childhood and relates her thoughts and emotions at the time of each. She also shares the insights she gained through her healing journey (largely through hypnotherapy). I deeply appreciate and admire Lafferty and all who share their stories of survival and healing from trauma and do recommend "The Lafferty Girl". That being said I didn't connect with this memoir as much as others I have read. The writing became repetitive and some time jumps and segues were confusing or jarring.

Thank you to Union Square & Co. for access to an electronic review copy of "The Lafferty Girl"!

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to thank NetGalley for giving me access to the audiobook version of The Lafferty Girl by Rebecca Lafferty. I was particularly interested in this book because, after reading Under the Banner of Heaven, I have developed a deeper curiosity about the Mormon Church. While Under the Banner of Heaven highlighted the existence of victims of religious fanaticism, Rebecca Lafferty’s autobiography explores a different set of victims: the children and spouse of her father. It was fascinating to see the “before and after” of how he treated his family, and hearing Rebecca’s perspective added a valuable layer to the story.

The book did lose some momentum in the middle, as we follow Rebecca in her adult life and witness her struggles with “daddy issues.” Watching her repeat certain mistakes can be almost painful, but I found myself empathizing with her—how could she fully avoid these patterns after growing up with such unhealthy examples of relationships? I appreciated seeing her explore different therapeutic approaches, some of which felt a bit unconventional, and ultimately find a way to reconcile her faith while healing her inner child.

Overall, The Lafferty Girl was a compelling and thoughtful listen that offers a unique perspective on a complex family and faith experience.