Ashamed of her past, Carla Powers Herron never talked about her childhood days in a religious cult or about her father, a violent, alcoholic pyromaniac who terrorized his family. But Herron has revealed all in a new book, released Nov. 1.

Herron, now worldwide head of litigation for Royal Dutch Shell in Houston, says she had buried her past until she wrote “Matches in the Gas Tank,” a memoir of her difficult childhood.