In this era of ‘fake news’ and popular despotism, Tara Westover’s memoir reminds us that the best defence against repressive ideology is critical thinking – the kind that comes with an education.

What’s a polite, nearly middle-aged woman like me doing leaving a party without even saying goodbye to her fella, let alone to the birthday girl? Regressing, that’s what. Behaving like she used to before she became A Confident Career Woman. Like she did in the bad old days, when she was A Shy Young Thing.