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Table of Contents
About The Book
*NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*
*A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF 2024*
*NAMED ONE OF PEOPLE’S BEST CELEBRITY MEMOIRS OF 2024*
A deliciously witty and inspiring memoir by One Tree Hill star Bethany Joy Lenz about her decade in a cult and her quest to break free.
In the early 2000s, after years of hard work and determination to breakthrough as an actor, Bethany Joy Lenz was finally cast as one of the leads on the hit drama One Tree Hill. Her career was about to take off, but her personal life was slowly beginning to unravel. What none of the show’s millions of fans knew, hidden even from her costars, was her secret double life in a cult.
An only child who often had to fend for herself and always wanted a place to belong, Lenz found the safe haven she’d been searching for in a Bible study group with other Hollywood creatives. However, the group soon morphed into something more sinister—a slowly woven web of manipulation, abuse, and fear under the guise of a church covenant called The Big House Family. Piece by piece, Lenz began to give away her autonomy, ultimately relocating to the Family’s Pacific Northwest compound, overseen by a domineering minister who would convince Lenz to marry one of his sons and steadily drained millions of her TV income without her knowledge. Family “minders” assigned to her on set, “Maoist struggle session”–inspired meetings in the basement of a filthy house, and regular counseling with “Leadership” were just part of the tactics used to keep her loyal.
Only when she became a mother did Lenz find the courage to leave and spare her child from a similar fate. After nearly a decade (and with the unlikely help of a One Tree Hill superfan), she finally managed to escape the family’s grip and begin to heal from the deep trauma that forever altered her relationship with God and her understanding of faith.
Written with powerful honesty and dark humor, Dinner for Vampires is an inspiring story about the importance of identity and understanding what you believe.
*A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF 2024*
*NAMED ONE OF PEOPLE’S BEST CELEBRITY MEMOIRS OF 2024*
A deliciously witty and inspiring memoir by One Tree Hill star Bethany Joy Lenz about her decade in a cult and her quest to break free.
In the early 2000s, after years of hard work and determination to breakthrough as an actor, Bethany Joy Lenz was finally cast as one of the leads on the hit drama One Tree Hill. Her career was about to take off, but her personal life was slowly beginning to unravel. What none of the show’s millions of fans knew, hidden even from her costars, was her secret double life in a cult.
An only child who often had to fend for herself and always wanted a place to belong, Lenz found the safe haven she’d been searching for in a Bible study group with other Hollywood creatives. However, the group soon morphed into something more sinister—a slowly woven web of manipulation, abuse, and fear under the guise of a church covenant called The Big House Family. Piece by piece, Lenz began to give away her autonomy, ultimately relocating to the Family’s Pacific Northwest compound, overseen by a domineering minister who would convince Lenz to marry one of his sons and steadily drained millions of her TV income without her knowledge. Family “minders” assigned to her on set, “Maoist struggle session”–inspired meetings in the basement of a filthy house, and regular counseling with “Leadership” were just part of the tactics used to keep her loyal.
Only when she became a mother did Lenz find the courage to leave and spare her child from a similar fate. After nearly a decade (and with the unlikely help of a One Tree Hill superfan), she finally managed to escape the family’s grip and begin to heal from the deep trauma that forever altered her relationship with God and her understanding of faith.
Written with powerful honesty and dark humor, Dinner for Vampires is an inspiring story about the importance of identity and understanding what you believe.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (October 22, 2024)
- Length: 320 pages
- ISBN13: 9781668067307
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Raves and Reviews
“Incredible.” —Alex Cooper, Call Her Daddy
"[R]evealing... Lenz shares how she escaped a cult life with honesty and dark humor." —People ("Best Celebrity Memoirs of 2024")
“A sharp, confessional memoir…Dinner for Vampires rejects the stereotype that only the naïve and broken can fall victim to a cult’s seduction…Lenz’s prose remains light and clear, and often funny, throughout the book, even when it takes a disturbing turn…Lenz movingly presents her awakening as a kind of baptism, and also a return.” —Fran Hoepfner, New York Times Book Review
“Bethany Joy Lenz is taking back her relationship with her faith and her past.” —Olivia Truffaut-Wong, Cosmopolitan
“Tart, refreshing.” —New York Times Book Review ("22 Nonfiction Books to Read This Fall")
“Bethany Joy Lenz’s sharp memoir traces how she became involved with a cultish group called the Big House Family, which took advantage of her for 10 years…. In riveting detail, Lenz recounts how she finally broke free.” —Time ("The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024")
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