Ronna Russell weaves a backward-in-time series of short stories depicting the violent oppression, complicity, and participation of white women, exposing individual choices that resulted in the abandonment of sisterhood for survival. The past is not what we have been told. Russell's book shines a light into the dark corners of our past where, at every turn, religion holds the sharp stick, the torch, or the bridle. All events are based on true stories as seen through the eyes and participation of the main characters, the sting of which are still felt in our lives today.