On August 30, 2023, Ruby Franke, the matriarch behind the YouTube family vlog “8 Passengers”, and her friend and business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, founder of the cult-like life coaching business ConneXions, were arrested and charged with six counts of felony aggravated child abuse. Ruby’s oldest child, Shari Franke, recounts the years of abuse she and her five siblings endured that led up to that moment.
On camera, Ruby appeared to be the perfect mother and wife, inspiring her millions of subscribers with thousands of viral videos that welcomed viewers into the family home. Off camera, however, told a different story. One of physical, mental, and emotional abuse at the hands of a narcissistic, religiously extreme mother who exploited her children for clicks and money.
Shari narrates the audiobook, and though the writing itself comes off as a bit juvenile at times, it serves as a reminder of just how young she was while suffering under mother, and makes her story all that much more personal and powerful. While she doesn’t name any of her younger siblings other than her adult brother to respect the little privacy they have left, she goes into detail about how the children were failed at every level by those who were supposed to protect them, from the teacher who noticed when Ruby purposely sent them to school without lunch, to the church who punished Shari instead of the man who was grooming her, to CPS and their initial inaction that prolonged the abuse.
Shari’s story is one of survival and hope for her siblings to be able to reclaim their lives after forcibly growing up in the public eye.
For similar memoirs, check out Educated by Tara Westover and A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy by Tia Levings.
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