The Sound of Gravel a memoir by Ruth Wariner

I read this book all in one day and stayed up too late at night to finish it because I could not put it down.  Ruth grew up in a polygamous colony, the 39th of her father's 42 children.  Her father had been the leader of his group, but was murdered by his brother when Ruth was an infant.  Her mother had remarried within the group and Ruth grew up in their group's colony in Mexico in abject poverty. Her mother took Ruth and her siblings back and forth to the US to collect welfare and they lived in the US for a couple of years at one point, after her stepfather beat her mother and she left.  Her mother returned to the abusive husband, who, we learn, abused many of his children as well, including Ruth.  The story is heartbreaking in parts, and shows Ruth's strength and resilience as she was able to overcome the abuse and tragedies in her life and save herself and her siblings from her abusive step-father.