I found this a fascinating ,if rather concerning , insight into the Jehovah Witness church. A very informative read.

As a keen observer of other religions and cultures I looked forward to reading this.

What an intriguing and dark insight into the JW world. I had little idea of it’s beliefs and practices and was saddened by its treatment of Ali and others who did not quite conform. The attitude towards women is particularly difficult to understand. The organisation is run by men for men, with women being considered only in a subservient context.

This is only one memoir, I have nothing to compare it with, but if only part is accurate it is quite an eye opener. Of course, all religions have their flaws, and the words “sect” and “cult” are bandied about without any conscious thought to their meaning.

Ali’s narrative is distressing and no doubt will be considered controversial. A brave and deeply sad book, well written and will definitely be talked about.

Thank you NetGalley.

A tale of Religion versus Love, i know what I prefer.

A true tale with names changed of girl Ali now a Lady who grew up with a Mum a sister and the JW's, I'm guessing not many of them will read this but we'll I will let you make your mind up. There is a truth with an honesty rarely seen in these sort of accounts our Heroine Ali makes no secret of her faults or are they her human nature. When searching for something you look everywhere if your honest and this feels very honest. I'm a Christian not a JW I hate religion and the way it destroyed lives. To love is divine fear of Man is not.

So I'm being honest our heroine is very honest and if you read this I'm guessing you will be challenged as we are all different I'm not sure how your challenge will look but it will make sense to you even if not to anyone else. It's one of those books that will have a different impact on different people and that's part of why I like it so much. I'm not for bashing anyone for the sake of it but there are somethings in life that are wrong and somethings that stick out as such and some don't this is how Ali was robbed of so much and a warning that just because your told something is right it doesn't mean it is.

Part of my challenge is to ask why do I do what I do why do I believe what I do the ansa isn't written in the clouds or this book but there are some very big clues for you to see. You won't need a magnified glass to see it unless your sight is bad I think for anyone who has questions on the road they are being lead down this may make sense to you is your trapped in a religion or could I say abusive relationship even this is a good read. If your not but want to see a super human tale then this is a great book to read. I highly recommend it. Thanks Alj for our it out there to challenge and help others you are a heroine to me.

A fascinating insight into a very closed world.
The author is very brave to expose the truth of her experience within the Jehovah's Witnesses- dragged into it by a mother seeking more from life and indoctrinated from an early age she describes beautifully her struggles to continue to be good and uphold the "truth" all the while doubting the truth is real.
I was surprised by how "wordly" the activities the teens get up to are (drinking, partying, swearing), given the strictness of the religion as seen from the outside viewpoint and the subsequent prying of the Elders into her apparent sinning within marriage but there again if it is not your choice of belief system and the world around you is doing the same it must be hard to resist, particularly when those things bring temporary happiness and release.
Overall a very thought provoking read.

Little Ali Millar, sitting in the Kingdom Hall, listening to the Elders preach - Waiting for Armageddon. She is terrified about what she may see happen, it haunts her. She attends the Jehovah’s Witness meetings with her Mother and Sister. So much to learn, so much to get right.

I found this memoir very brave for the author to write. For me personally reading this it gave me an insight into the life of a member of the Jehovah Witness Kingdom.
Written with such powerful emotion, you can feel the fear and bewildering thoughts of the young Ali. How it was drummed into her, how she felt helpless like her life was chosen for her, without having a chance of how she may have wanted her life direction to go.
It follows her into adulthood and how her life plays out.
It took me a little longer to read as I wanted to absorb it in all it’s detail. It’s an emotionally charged book, written with the most descriptive sentences. I like the style of her writing, her own unique way of bringing her memories to paper.
A religious upbringing written from a child’s into adults point of view. A most compelling read, and I am certain this book will stay with me, and be remembered.
Thank you NetGalley and Ebury Publishing for a copy of this e- book. My thoughts of this book are honestly written.

For anyone who hasn't experienced life in a highly structured, authoritarian, patriarchal religion such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, they won't realise how brave Ali Milar was in writing this book. Whenever I hear, "We think" or "We believe or "Our faith tells us" my hackles rise. Nobody comes out of the womb uttering those words, they are the adopted thoughts and beliefs of someone who founded whichever sect, group, following or religion others follow. A sort of 'loving' coercion brings new people in to the group but more usually the children of those already indoctrinated. After all, children look up to their parents with absolute trust so are easy meat for the process. So easy to scare in to submission too. Jehovah's Witnesses aren't the only ones who refer to their way as the 'truth'. Truth has a very long section in Wikipedia, possibly because of its multifaceted meanings. One thing is certain, there are many truths out there and they are all man-made. I wonder what Woman's Hour would make of the cringeworthy examination by the Elders of her marital situation with Marc and their perverted questionning of her pleasure but never his. That's patriarchy for you!

Thoughtful memoir of the author’s life as a Witness; I was mesmerised by this as I knew so little about Jehovah’s Witnesses and she really manages to portray the practices quite fairly so it felt credible and not merely a hatchet-job.
A lot of this is really sad, not least the ending, but it stayed with me for a while since I finished. There’s a vulnerability and strength in the writing that really appealed to me.

i was interested to read this book as I was a Jehovah's Witness for many years but left - not because of any of the issues mentioned in this book - but because of some uncertainty about interpretation of parts of the Bible. In my time as a Witness I can honestly say that I never encountered any of the issues that the author speaks of. I found these people to be kind, honest, morally decent and upright citizens whose adherence to Bible principals could well be a model to Christians of any denomination. Never did I come across any coercive control such as insisting what the ladies wore, what they were allowed to drink etc and nor did I ever observe windows being boarded up so that members couldn't see the outside world. Maybe (as in many organisations whether religious or otherwise), there are some groups who behave in a way that isn't reflective of the majority. Anybody is free to leave the organisation at any time. I did and I remain friends with several of the Witnesses who are among the nicest people I know. As I reached the end of this book and read how the author finally got her life on track and appears to be settled now with a family it made me wonder if some of her earlier traumas were, at least in part, a case of teenage rebellion in her early years. Her swearing, drinking and promiscuity during those times would likely not have been condoned by any Christian Church or organisation and nor would turning a blind eye to such behaviour be acceptable. I feel sad that Ali had such a troubled early life and I don't doubt that she suffered greatly in an emotional capacity from whatever anxieties ruled her life at the time but I still remain unsure of how much blame to lay at the door of Jehovah's Witnesses. As someone who has been baptised into the faith and later left, I didn't feel it reflected my experiences very much at all. My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book which I am happy to review voluntarily and without bias.,

Insight into the workings of the Jehovah’s Witness organisation. Rather distressing portray of the treatment of the author during her childhood and early life. Controversial, sad biography, certainly informative,

I received an ARC of, The Last Days by Ali Miller. I learned a lot about the Jehovah Witnesses from this book. A very interesting read from someone inside the organization.

Wow, what a fantastic read! Ali Millar’s novel, The Last Days, centres on a young woman, brought up in the beliefs of a religious sect, and her attempts to leave it. The novel is the author’s very brave and candid account of coercion and control to subvert individuality and free-thinking within the organisation. Ali’s ‘inquisition’ of her ‘sins’ by the elders of the religion is, at best, intrusive and misogynistic, leaving her feeling that all wrongs are her fault in the eyes of the church. However, her abandonment by the church, and even by her own family, all she knows, has made her an outcast and object of ridicule as ordered by the religious elders. Revelations abound in this book.

A courageous memoir from someone brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness and exposed to the strictest regimes of prayer, ministry and personal denial. And threatened with the vividly visualised ending…when Witnesses will be save to live in Paradise while others are destroyed in the Apocalypse.
Questioning the faith is not an option for our narrator, but teenage years and adulthood bring her into conflict with herself and her needs and desires as well as conflict within the community where she is often humiliated and exposed as sinful.
Shocking and disturbing but ultimately life affirming. Worth for stars for courage alone. Read the Afterword if you do try this one.
Thank you to @NetGalley and @EburyPress for my copy

This book is about a girl that was brought up as a Jehovah's Witness in Scotland. You don't need any prior information about the religion and culture as its all explained within the book. I thought this was an interesting read that really sheds light on what its like growing up in the religion.

A fascinating memoir about Ali’s journey to freedom from being in the Jehovah’s Witness community, and all the hardships that ali experiences along the way . I was totally invested in this book and Ali’s journey. I’ve not read a book on this subject before and that’s what made this book stand out . Ali journey is sad and emotional but overall shows true strength in character. Some parts in the book could be triggering for readers personally I found the eating disorders difficult to read but not enough to stop me from reading . This book is a fascinating memoir

Exploring the depths of faith and devotion, The Last Days is a scorching memoir that follows the author from child to grown woman as an ardent member of the Jehovah's Witness faith. Riddled with uncomfortable subject matter (readers uncomfortable with graphic/overt depictions of eating disorders, sexual assault, and religious trauma will want to tread carefully here), the memoir is searing and raw, a dizzying look at what it's like to be in the heart of what is, essentially, a cult (readers may find an odd, yet appropriate pairing for this in Tara Westover's Educated).

The writing of the book neatly changes as we follow the writer from childhood to teenhood to adulthood; the writer's mother changes from being Mummy to Mum as a neat trick, and the first instance of the F-bomb doesn't get dropped until our heroine hits adolescence, for example. Dark and complex and yet ultimately hopeful, this is a fast-pace and compulsive read about the inside scoop in one of the world's biggest religious cults.

Wow. What a tremendous memoir. I’ll preface this review by saying my thoughts on JW as a religious organisation are not clear cut. I have friends who are JW and are really happy, my friend doesn’t appear oppressed by her husband and her children are bright, happy and just regular kids. As a CofE Christian myself there are a few things that my friends Kingdom Hall do that I really think we could learn from as our church slowly dwindles as it’s ageing population dies. BUT all that aside I have no doubt that Ali’s experience is genuine and that she and many hundreds or even thousands of other ex Witnesses have been traumatised by the very people and place that are supposed to provide you with comfort and safety. The fact that, like Mormonism the JW faith has been written and designed by ‘modern’ day white men in ivory towers in the USA is enough to make me suspicious of its true biblical purpose and reading how women are expected to be submissive to their parents, then church then husband it’s definitely something I couldn’t be a part of.
But my experiences aren’t relevant here, Ali Millars’s are and she writes them so beautifully. It is incredible how she manages to capture the spirit of whatever age she is and imbue that into those chapters so that you’d be forgiven for thinking that she was copying from a childhood log book. Her growing maturity matches the maturity of the storytelling until by the end it is elegiac and fully grown.
I could have carried on reading it for days and am a little cross that it was so good I raced through it!

Whatever your thoughts on religion this is a great book about being a woman and how your life changes and is changed for you by the choices you make and the people who surround you.

The Last Days by Ali Millar

It is 1982 and in the Kingdom Hall we are Jehovah's Witnesses. The state of the world shows us the end is close, and Satan is like a roaring lion, seeking to devour us.
A very good insight into what life and the expectation of growing up as the child of a Jehovah Witness .
I felt Ali captured and gave us a real feel on how it all affected her.
Well written .

Wow, what an emotive book that was to read. There is a Kingdom hall not far from where I like and you've always wondered what goes on behind closed doors - this book certainly gives you the answers, and answers that now I know the answer to, I will give it a wide berth. You have to hand it to the author for wanting a life outside of being a Witness and their rules/lifestyle even if it has come at a huge personal loss.

This is a staggering work, lyrical and devastating, yet hopeful. How Millar has captured her voice through the different stages of her memories is awe-inspiring. Setting the absolute case for keeping children free from religious ideologies because of the damage they do, this has to be the non-fiction book of 2022.