Deliverance

Title: DELIVERANCE
Author: Patricia Hochstetler
Publisher: Baker Trittin Press
2008
ISBN: 978-0-9787316-6-3
Genre: Inspirational/cult

Patricia has now been removed from the Amish-Jewish Cult she grew up in and is living at her grandmother’s house in Indiana. But taking a child out of a cult and taking the cult out of the child are two different things. Patricia is uncomfortable in her new home, and has to be taught how to do everything, from using an indoor toilet to taking a shower. Her only friend is her dog, but even the dog is taken from her.

When Patricia’s mother, brother, and sister seem to adapt easily to their new life, Patricia spends most of her time hiding in her room dressed in her cult clothes. Soon she decides she wants to return to Mississippi, and stay with the family they left behind here. Patricia’s mother seems willing to let her, but when Patricia gets to Mississippi she discovers that she is no longer welcomed there. With no choice but to return to Indiana, Patricia goes home. But how can she ever adapt to this new, foreign, “sinful” life that is forced on her?

DELIVERANCE is not the easy-out that readers might be expecting as the final story in this trilogy. This book, in many ways, was one of the most difficult ones in the set to read, as I wanted a “quick fix” for Patricia and her family, but it isn’t that at all. I wanted to tell Patricia to get on with life, but when one is taught that normal life is a sin, and she didn’t want to be condemned to Hell for being forced into the American lifestyle, it isn’t exactly as easy as that. The story does have a happy ending.

I recommend DELIVERANCE and the entire series, as we all need to know about the lure of cults and the ramifications of living in them, and then trying to come out. This book is available for $12.95 from www.bakertrittinpress.com.