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Surviving the Family Kingdom: A Memoir of Growing up in Mom's Cult, Getting Out, and Reclaiming a Life
I grew up in a religious cult founded by my mother.
What looked like a normal Midwestern family from the outside was, in reality, was a tightly controlled world where identity, belief, and daily life were carefully shaped. Obedience was love. Perfection and purity were considered Godly.
As a child, I was pulled from school, moved from place to place, and taught to disappear in order to survive under a mother who believed she was chosen by God.
Before my mother created The Kingdom, my sister and I, along with our mother, were held captive for two years by a man who exerted absolute control over our lives. Those years left deep psychological wounds, especially on our mother, that would shape everything that followed.
Surviving the Family Kingdom is not just a story about leaving a cult. It is a cult survival memoir and a true story of healing from religious and family trauma.
It is about untangling yourself from a system that defined your reality and learning how to build a life that is truly your own.
If you have ever felt controlled, silenced, or shaped by a family system, or experienced religious or family trauma, you may recognize parts of your own story in these pages.
Leaving The Kingdom was only the beginning. Surviving the Family Kingdom is really two Growing up in a cult, and what it takes to rebuild your life after leaving.
What followed after leaving was a long and difficult path through poverty, a fracturing of identity, failed relationships, and the invisible aftermath of psychological control. It meant learning to trust my own voice after years of submission and fear.
This memoir traces my journey from enforced loyalty and silence to self-trust, motherhood, and the fierce determination to protect the next generation from the legacy I escaped.
Along the way, it
• Growing up in a controlling, cult family system
• How unresolved trauma can turn belief into domination
• Religious trauma and the long shadow it casts after escape
• Reclaiming identity, agency, and a sense of self
• Breaking generational cycles and building a new life
At its core, this is a story about survival, courage, and the slow, deliberate act of choosing who you will become.
What looked like a normal Midwestern family from the outside was, in reality, was a tightly controlled world where identity, belief, and daily life were carefully shaped. Obedience was love. Perfection and purity were considered Godly.
As a child, I was pulled from school, moved from place to place, and taught to disappear in order to survive under a mother who believed she was chosen by God.
Before my mother created The Kingdom, my sister and I, along with our mother, were held captive for two years by a man who exerted absolute control over our lives. Those years left deep psychological wounds, especially on our mother, that would shape everything that followed.
Surviving the Family Kingdom is not just a story about leaving a cult. It is a cult survival memoir and a true story of healing from religious and family trauma.
It is about untangling yourself from a system that defined your reality and learning how to build a life that is truly your own.
If you have ever felt controlled, silenced, or shaped by a family system, or experienced religious or family trauma, you may recognize parts of your own story in these pages.
Leaving The Kingdom was only the beginning. Surviving the Family Kingdom is really two Growing up in a cult, and what it takes to rebuild your life after leaving.
What followed after leaving was a long and difficult path through poverty, a fracturing of identity, failed relationships, and the invisible aftermath of psychological control. It meant learning to trust my own voice after years of submission and fear.
This memoir traces my journey from enforced loyalty and silence to self-trust, motherhood, and the fierce determination to protect the next generation from the legacy I escaped.
Along the way, it
• Growing up in a controlling, cult family system
• How unresolved trauma can turn belief into domination
• Religious trauma and the long shadow it casts after escape
• Reclaiming identity, agency, and a sense of self
• Breaking generational cycles and building a new life
At its core, this is a story about survival, courage, and the slow, deliberate act of choosing who you will become.
262 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 10, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 22, 2026
Peggy Sharr’s Surviving the Family Kingdom is not to be missed. Hers is a compelling, often harrowing, utterly inspiring story of trauma, survival, and self-discovery, told in beautiful prose and unflinching honesty. How she endured and overcame her circumstances, learning how to not only survive but thrive, will be balm to any reader. If you are someone or know someone whose life has known more than its share of adverse events, this memoir is for you. After reading it, you will know it’s possible to be stronger in the broken places.
July 20, 2026
While this was a very sad book, I found it really hard to read. There were so many bad things that happened. I know that not everyone's life is sunshine and roses, but it just felt like everything was always terrible. Or in the off chance it was ok, it didn't last long.
I appreciate that she shared her story of what it wad like growing up with a mother like this. I couldn't imagine dealing with this on a daily basis. She's a very strong woman to keep going when life gave her so many rough hands.
I appreciate that she shared her story of what it wad like growing up with a mother like this. I couldn't imagine dealing with this on a daily basis. She's a very strong woman to keep going when life gave her so many rough hands.
October 25, 2026
I was curious about what it would be like to grow up in a cult, but I doubted I could relate—there was no way I’d ever believe a family member could be the messiah of a new kingdom. The frightening part is that I did. Peggy’s story revealed parallels with my own family, inspiring me to cross an ocean and forge my own path. Her memoir also reads like a fast-paced novel as she escapes her mother and, later, the husbands who resemble her. I highly recommend this book to anyone willing to break one mold after another in search of their true self.
July 19, 2026
This book was anxiety inducing. When you thought the author's mother could sink no lower in her insane demands, she did another horrible thing. It was interesting that the mother craved so much approval from her mother and it seemed the author repeated that pattern by continuing to bring her mother back in to her life as an adult even though she repeatedly proved it wasn't worth the hassle. I would have liked more of an update on the author's life after & her career choice.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews