In Santa Cruz author Molly Salans’ self-published novel, this ’70s era family in crisis confronts what both spiritually and emotionally ails them, a reckoning that comes to the fore when vulnerable 24-year-old Clara gets drawn into the stranglehold of the Bay Area cult, the Ancient School of Ideas. The idea for this gripping fictional debut from Salans, a marriage and family counselor and social worker, germinated from her own experiences in a cult for seven years. She broke free in 1985. “A Break in the Fog” is effective at reflecting what being in a cult is like.
