Sometimes, a book description hits my email and catches my eye. Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away From Christian Patriarchy by Cait West is one of those books. An old contact from news sent me a blurb about it and it piqued my interest in a big way, so I said yes.

Rift [Buy Bookshop Amazon] is Cait sharing the story of her life in what’s known as the Christian Patriarchy movement, which believes that men are to be in charge and women are submissive housewives. Cait was raised to be a stay-at-home daughter, which was basically just training to be a wife and mother in the future. However, most don’t have much say in who they are a husband to, since the courtship runs through the father.

Through a series of essays that also incorporate nature, Cait shares about her life living in that environment and all the challenges it presented. She also details how she started learning that there might be more outside that belief system and the steps she took toward getting out of it.

Overall, this is a well-written and vulnerable series of snapshots into Cait’s life. She doesn’t shy away from the rough parts of this lifestyle, which is a challenging task. The essays aren’t arranged chronologically, but it doesn’t impact the reader’s ability to follow the story. Some portions felt a little rambly or choppy to me, but it’s still a solid debut for Cait.

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