Never Tell: Recovered Memories of a Daughter of the Temple Mater

What has no name does not exist.

The cult had no name. What was done to the child had no name. ＂Never tell,＂ she was told. With no words, how could she? Tell who? Everyone showed up hidden in a hood. She knew their voices. At 30, she found her father’s pin ＂Knight of the Temple Mater.＂ Not until Rod died could she remember the word itself, the ’club’, its dark ceremonies. Only then did she discover she had a special child, like a little sister, trained to listen and remember, her personality split into separate parts. She had hidden selves, but there was a deep, secret part only Aunt Mae, who had saved her life, knew about. This part was the spy.

Never Tell, like Angela’s Ashes and The Glass Castle demonstrates the resilience of the human spirit. The narrator’s voice, warm and darkly humorous, assures us of the redemptive power of love.