Cruel Sanctuary: A Young Woman’s Battle to Escape from a Fanatical Religious Sect

When Christine Mathis was a little girl during World War 2, her father decided to pursue his pacifist ideals by enlisting the family in a fundamentalist Christian community. The community was run by the Brudehof, an obsessive, extremist sect which exercised ridged control over every aspect of members’ lives, from what they were allowed to read and talk about to whom they could marry. During the years that followed, Christine found herself enduring emotional and physical abuse, and regularly ostracised for daring to have a mind of her own. She eventually found the courage to break her ties with the Brudehof, at the cost of being cut off from her family. Finally, after a mature woman, she was able to begin the search for genuine love and happiness by setting out to build a family of her own.