The Unbreakable Miss Lovely

How the Church of Scientology Tried to Destroy Paulette Cooper

By: Tony Ortega

Narrated by: Tony Ortega

Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

In 1971 Paulette Cooper wrote a scathing book about the Church of Scientology. Desperate to shut the book down, Scientology unleashed on her one of the most sinister personal campaigns the free world has ever known.

The onslaught, which lasted years, ruined her life and drove her to the brink of suicide. The story of Paulette's terrifying ordeal is told in full for the first time in The Unbreakable Miss Lovely. It reveals the shocking details of the darkest chapter in Scientology's checkered history, which ended with senior members in prison and the organization's reputation permanently damaged.

©2015 Tony Ortega (P)2016 Audible, Ltd

A "CHURCH" THAT IS DESTRUCTIVE. INSIDE SCIENTOLOGY

Any additional comments?

An incredible book, it's a page-turning thriller. It shows how paranoid, suspicious and utterly vindictive the "Church" of Scientology really is. They literally tried to make her take her own life.

What is amazing is it's true. It's the story of how the "church" of Scientology set out to destroy Paulette Cooper, you will be utterly shocked what this cult did to try & destroy this lady. One example being the ‘church’ even went as far as to get her fingerprints on a piece of paper. They then sent forged bomb threats on the paper with her fingerprints to themselves, leading her to be arrested, facing 15 years in prison. The only reason she was not sent to jail was at around the same time, the FBI raided the Church of Scientology's offices in Washington DC and Los Angeles, finding evidence of what is to this day the largest infiltration of government offices in US history. They also found evidence of the campaign to destroy Paulette Cooper.


The author, Tony Ortega, is an investigative journalist & the premier journalist in uncovering the evil cult that is Scientology. He is meticulous in his research, and delved deeply into original documents and spoke with people who were involved in this horrendous campaign to destroy Paulette. The "church's" own documents, seized by the FBI, detailed their campaign to either have her committed to an asylum, put in jail, or commit suicide!

The book is stunning and you'll be amazed and horrified by what a "church" did to one young woman who dared to write something critical about them. Once you pick up this book, you won't be able to do anything else until you finish reading. This is a masterpiece of non-fiction storytelling. If you enjoy this then you must read Leah Remini’s book Troublemaker, it will also show how twisted & basically evil Scientology is.

I'll be getting the paperback.

I only made it through two chapters due to the horribly boring and lacklustre reading by the narrator. It sounds like he is reading a grocery receipt. Ugh.

Holy Mother of Mose

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

If you want to know this story- read the hard copy.

I'm glad to read the other reviews and know it's not just me. Ortega leaves off the end of his words/sentences CONSTANTLY throughout the book- it's making me absolutely bonkers. "chu(rch)""nineteen-seventy-si(x)""li(fe)""reaso(ns)""looki(ng)"I almost quit the book after the first 30 minutes or so because I thought I wasn't going to be able to ignore it- which I haven't been- but the story is interesting so here I am, almost finished. I'm sad, though, because I enjoy listening to books a second+ time...but that's just not going to happen on this one.

What didn’t you like about Tony Ortega’s performance?

Complete drop-off of sentences and words.

Narration is the worst!

The author should have left the narration to the professionals. The end of most sentences gets left off. He sounds like he has a cold for the entire book.
Buy the action book and read it. The story is good.

Terrible narration

I normally don't do reviews, but I couldn't pass on this one. The book itself is good with a lot of content. The narration is deplorable. Like others have said, there is no emotion, but I could deal with that. The problem I have is Tony Ortega does not finish words. I don't know if he was rushed narrating his book or if that is how he speaks, but it is very infuriating. I would say the last word of about every 3rd sentence is never finished. The word sentence, for example, sounds like "sente". This may be one of those books that is better off being read instead.

Audiobook is murder

This story had so much potential but I gotta say that it’s taken me months to get through this book. The narration is so boring that it lost my attention for long stretches and I’d have to rewind. I actually gave up and didn’t finish it.

Interesting Story

Where does The Unbreakable Miss Lovely rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's toward the mid range. The narration wasn't great as I typically don't like authors to read their own work but Paulette's story was intriguing.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Paulette was my favorite because she is so very human and stay so naive for so long.

What three words best describe Tony Ortega’s voice?

Mono-toned, untrained, and unemotional.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. It was good for long commute times (as are most books).

Great story, scary this can happen.

Thank you, Tony Ortega, for giving us this book in audio form. Even though I've heard you tell this story in interviews, it was still captivating. Paulette Cooper is a brave lady. Unbelievable how vindictive Scientology was and still is. Glad I'm just a wog. :-)

A real life spy drama

The detailed account of the lengths a 'religion' will go to, to keep one woman quiet.

Fascinating look at the Church of Scientology

Lots of details and players to keep track of, but compelling and worth reading or listening to if you want a solid background about the organization.

No s's

The story was well composed but an issue I noticed while listening is the majority of the s's were removed. Causing abrupt ends or manipulation a to words. This very well could have been an issue with the download, I'm not sure. Though nonetheless, still enjoyable and informative.

Great book told by the authority on the subject

Having followed Tony Ortega's work for a few years now, I bought this book with a sense of anticipation. Ortega doesn't disappoint as he manages to blend the story of Paulette Cooper with the history and context for scientology - highly recommended!

frightening. well read.

Excellent. Mr Ortega narrates a tale of a battle for sanity against those who will do anything to make one believe otherwise.

Worth a listen!

The actual story of what happened is extremely compelling and shocking in certain places and really helps give some insight into Scientology that other books just don't give!

The one thing that stopped me almost finishing this book the narrators irritating tendency to not finish words. At first I thought it was something to do with the editing but it does seem to be the narrator. Frequently when he is saying something like "Her father owned many houses" he'll just say "her father owned many house"

A fascinating listen

This is a truly fascinating book. Ortega brilliantly tells the story of Paulette Cooper's ordeal at the hands of the Church of Scientology. This story reads like a great thriller novel and sometimes you have to remind yourself that this is a true story.

Such unbelievable strength of 'Miss Lovely'

it's just such an incredible story! well researched and well performed by Tony Ortega.

a real hero

I have been following the business of scientology and what they do for a while I find what they get away with shocking. this is something I truly looked forward to hearing and although not a huge fan of Tony's narration I believe the book was outstanding. and although I'm sure ment as a jibe I believe taking back the title miss lovely was a nice touch what a wonderful woman a true hero to have gone through so much and not only be able to say she got through it but admit she almost didn't brave and strong and truly lovely.

Heartbreaking and inspiring in equal measure

Hard to go past Tony Ortega as the most informative source on Scientology. The book is excellently researched and a fascinating insight into the fair game policy at its peak. Paulette Cooper is admirable for her courage in her fight against appalling actions by a reprehensible organisation. An excellent listen.

Narration irritating souds libe he bugged up wid de flue

Book is interesting, well written and flows well, but...I'm persevering but I don't know if I can keep going for another nine hours, keep having to go back and relisten to words as the narrator sounds bunged up and it's making it a little hard to listen to spent a few minutes working out what a bob threat was...it's bomb if you pinch your nose shut by way of translation.

Deeply fascinating

I wanted to listen to this book after watching Leah Remini's aftermath program and I am so glad I did. Hearing the history of the CoS and the side by side chapters of what Paulette Cooper was going through with the details of what the CoS were doing at the same time was a clever twist. It is not only a story, a very detailed story, of Paulette Cooper but also a detailed commentary of the CoS and it's leader.