An essential story for understanding whats at stake when womens rights are stripped away
Cait West was five years old the first time she was told her swimsuit was too revealing. By the time she turned eighteen, the rules in her home were ironclad: no college, no career, no choices of her own. As a stay-at-home daughter in the Christian patriarchy movement, she was trained for one purpose--to serve the man her father would eventually allow her to marry. She learned to cook, to clean, to disappear. She learned that her body was a threat and freedom was sin. Her life would never be her own.
Until she broke free.
While dystopian novels like The Handmaids Tale explore the extremes of patriarchy as fiction, Rift tells a true story of gender oppression--one that many American women are experiencing now behind closed doors at home and at church. Weaving together her own gripping story with lyrical meditations on the geology of displacement and fracture, West maps the fault lines of her own breaking: the isolation that kept her silent, the forbidden relationship that became her escape route, and the complex aftermath of choosing herself over everything shed been taught to believe. Heartbreaking, hopeful, and blazingly honest, Rift is both expose and invitation--a reminder that freedom and healing are possible for those determined to claim a different life for themselves.
Cait West is a writer, editor, and survivor advocate working to spread awareness about the harms of religious patriarchy and authoritarianism. She was featured in the documentary For Our Daughters, and her work has been published in Dunes Review, the Revealer, Fourth Genre, Hawaii Pacific Review, and Newsweek, among others. She lives in Traverse City, Michigan, with her cat, Sherlock. Follow her at caitwest.com.
"A powerful meditation on what it means to be trapped and what it takes to break free." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Cait Wests rift is all of our rifts as we break away from the old and find hope and healing in the new. This is a story we must all come to understand, as West did: In the rifting of my life, I learned who I really am." --The Englewood Review of Books
"In this beautifully crafted memoir, Cait West offers readers an intimate glimpse into growing up and coming of age in a world defined by Christian patriarchy. Written with unusual sensitivity and unflinching honesty, hers is a story of aching loss and gritty resilience, of brokenness, beauty, and hope."
--Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne
"Cait West writes a remarkable coming-of-age memoir that offers an inside view of the Christian patriarchy movement--a world that few know about, but in which many girls and women increasingly find themselves trapped. Amazingly, West manages to hang onto her own soul, stand up to her father, and leave the misogyny behind. Riveting and compelling. I cant wait to see what West will accomplish next."
--Kate Carroll de Gutes, author of Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear
"Beautiful, tragic, hopeful, and real. Rift is a heartbreaking story told with breathtaking words. Cait West gives you a glimpse into her life and reveals how manipulative control can masquerade as Christian love. As I read, I shed tears with her and cheered for her. And when I reached the end, I felt freer having journeyed alongside her."
--Jenai Auman, author of Othered
"Rift is a gorgeously written, intimate portrait of a girl raised in Christian patriarchy. This close, inside view shows the reader what it is like to be stuck under male authority and feel oneself vanishing away. The inability to choose ones own path in education, romance, and faith, even as an adult woman, leaves a wrenching void. Rift becomes a story of overcoming. Here youll meet a woman finding herself and the hard, brave steps it takes to break free, to heal a broken space inside."
--Sarah Stankorb, author of Disobedient Women
"In Rift, Cait West has given us a rare gift: a chance to see behind the curtain of the Christian patriarchy movements smiling faces and witness the personal devastation the movement has wrought in the lives of so many young people, especially girls. This is a harrowing yet deeply necessary book about a familys descent into radicalization--and West is a skilled narrator and courageous guide."
--Ryan Stollar, author of The Kingdom of Children
"Wow, this book is beautiful. Rift is captivating and compelling, and though her story takes center stage, Wests writing--so graceful and elegant--is what truly shines in this book. In my work as a writer, editor, and professor, I read dozens of books in a year. This story, along with the craft behind it, is one of the best Ive read in recent memory. I have no doubt that Wests work is sure to make waves."
--Kelly Sundberg, author of Goodbye, Sweet Girl
