Lost Boy - Hardcover

The bestsellers Escape and Stolen Innocence told us what it’s like for a woman to escape a polygamist cult. Now, in this powerful and heartbreaking account, Brent Jeffs reveals that leaving the FLDS can be even more harrowing for a man.


Brent Jeffs is the nephew of Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), who is currently imprisoned. Brent was the first to file a sexual abuse lawsuit against his uncle. Now he shares his story, and perhaps even more significantly, the story of many other young men who become “lost boys” when they leave the FLDS either by choice or by expulsion.

Brent experienced firsthand the absolute power that church leaders wield—the kind of power that corrupts and leads to a twisted culture of sexual abuse. Once young men no longer belong to the church they are cast out into a world that they are utterly unprepared to cope with. More often than not, they retreat into a world of drug and alcohol abuse.

Tragically, Brent lost two of his brothers in this struggle, one to suicide, the other to overdose. In writing this book he hopes that more young men will not be lost, and that others will be inspired to help former FLDS members find their way in the world.

BRENT W. JEFFS spent his entire childhood in the Jeffs compound. He currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a beautiful wife and daughter. MAIA SZALAVITZ has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Elle, and is a Senior Fellow at stats.org, a media watchdog group. She lives in New York City.