The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly

Gr 9 Up—Seventeen-year-old Minnow Bly is sentenced to juvenile detention for brutally assaulting a mentally disturbed man. Only 12 hours prior, her entire community had been burned to the ground and the Prophet, the leader of the cult to which her family belonged, had been murdered. Now an FBI investigator makes her a deal. He's wants the truth in exchange for recommendation for parole. Minnow's life has been built on lies: the lies of the Prophet, the lies of her father, and the lies she's told herself. As she works with the investigator, Minnow relives the events leading up to the murder: her forbidden friendship with a young biracial man outside of the cult, her disturbing arranged marriage with the Prophet, and the fateful day the Prophet commanded her father to cut off her hands with an axe as punishment for running away. Brutal and raw from the opening words, Minnow's story will take hold of listeners and grip them hard, not letting them go even after the story ends. Narration by Morgan Hallett is crisp and on point.