The Seven Storey Mountain

Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life

C.S. Lewis · 238 pages

Autobiography of the English theologian, novelist, and scholar, concerning his early years. The author's spiritual journey from Chrisitanity to atheism and then back to Christianity.

Through the Narrow Gate

Karen Armstrong · 285 pages

Recounts the seven years that the author spent in a convent beginning at the age of seventeen, describing her religous doubts and spiritual struggles which led to her final recognition that she was not suited for life as a nun.

The Book of Mormon Girl: Stories from an American Faith

Joanna Brooks · 209 pages

Story about leaving behind the innocence of childhood belief and embracing the complications and heartbreaks that come to every adult life of faith. Explores the author's journey through her faith, and the experience of being a Mormon.

The Dance of the Dissident Daughter

Sue Monk Kidd · 245 pages

"Sue Monk was a 'conventionally religious, churchgoing woman, a traditional wife and mother' with a thriving career as a Christian writer until she began to question her role as a woman in her culture, her family, and her church. From a jarring encounter with sexism in a suburban drugstore to monastery retreats and rituals in the caves of Crete, Kidd takes readers through the fear, anger, healing,

Unveiling Grace: The Story of How We Found Our Way out of the Mormon Church

Lynn K. Wilder · 368 pages

Narrates the story of how a Mormon family left the religion after questioning many of its teachings and describes what it was like to grow up as a Mormon, comparing many Mormon beliefs and practices with those of more traditional Christian religions.

Confession of a Buddhist Atheist

Stephen Batchelor · 320 pages

Evolving in Monkey Town: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the Questions

Rachel Held Evans · 232 pages

Born Again: What Really Happened to the White House Hatchet Man

Charles W. Colson · 382 pages

Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

Dan Barker

After 19 years as an evangelical preacher, missionary, and Christian songwriter, Dan Barker 'threw out the bathwater and discovered there is no baby there.' Barker, who is now co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (America's largest organization of atheists and agnostics), describes the intellectual and psychological path he followed in moving from fundamentalism to freethought. The

Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession

Anne Rice · 256 pages

In 2005, Anne Rice startled her readers with her novel ***Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt***, and by revealing that, after years as an atheist, she had returned to her Catholic faith. ***Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana*** followed. And now, in her powerful and haunting memoir, Rice tells the story of the spiritual transformation that produced a complete change in her literary goals. She b

Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear

Jinger Duggar Vuolo · 221 pages

Foreskin's Lament

Shalom Auslander · 310 pages

Shalom Auslander was raised with a terrified respect for God. Even as he grew up and was estranged from his community, his religion and its traditions, he could not find his way to a life where he didn't struggle against God daily.Foreskin's Lament reveals Auslander's youth in a strict, socially isolated Orthodox community, and recounts his rebellion and efforts to make a new life apart from it. A

By Searching: My Journey Through Doubt Into Faith

Isobel Kuhn · 159 pages

Isobel Miller gave up God for worldly pursuits. But as graduation approached and her engagement was broken, she questioned that decision. "If You will prove to me that You are, and if You will give me peace, I will give You my whole life." God heard Isobel's prayers. He reached out to her, ending years of searching. Her response was to dedicate her life, along with her husband, to missionary servi

Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome: A Memoir of Humor and Healing

Reba Riley · 359 pages

"A woman about to turn 30 and dealing with health challenges finds that she wants to reconnect with faith, just not with the religion she was raised in. She decides to visit 30 different faith traditions before she turns 30, and finds that her journey encompasses more than just visiting different houses of worship"--

Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader's Eye-Opening Journey Across the Life Line

Abby Johnson · 288 pages

Abby Johnson quit her job in October 2009. That simple act became a national news story because Abby was director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas who, not long after assisting in an actual abortion procedure for the first time, crossed the line to join the Coalition for Life. What happened in that clinic to cause this Planned Parenthood leader and Employee of the Year to take such drastic

All Who Go Do Not Return: A Memoir

Shulem Deen · 299 pages

Shulem Deen was raised to believe that questions are dangerous. As a member of the Skverers, one of the most insular Hasidic sects in the US, he knows little about the outside world--only that it is to be shunned. His marriage at eighteen is arranged and several children soon follow. Deen's first transgression--turning on the radio--is small, but his curiosity leads him to the library, and later t

Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis

Lauren F. Winner · 272 pages

Deconverted: a Journey from Religion to Reason

Seth Andrews

Secret Ceremonies: A Mormon Woman's Intimate Diary of Marriage and Beyond

Deborah Laake · 240 pages

In this book, Deborah Laake, a former member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, chronicles her experiences with Mormonism and the various rituals performed in their temples. Laake recounts her studies at the Brigham Young University, her loveless first marriage at nineteen, her subsequent divorce and the problems she encountered with the Mormon authorities and her relatives due to

God's Smuggler

Brother Andrew · 226 pages

An Unquenchable Thirst: Following Mother Teresa in Search of Love, Service, and an Authentic Life

Mary Johnson

The story of Mary Johnson's years as a Missionary of Charity working for Mother Teresa in service to the world's poor. It is a fascinating depiction of the daily struggle to live a life of religious service. After 20 years, she left the order and has since left the Church altogether. Her story will speak to atheists and Christians alike.

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

Anne Lamott · 281 pages

"Anne Lamott takes us on a journey through her often troubled past to illuminate her devout but quirky walk of faith. In a narrative spiced with stories and scripture, with diatribes, laughter, and tears, Lamott tells how, against all odds, she came to believe in God and then, even more miraculously, in herself. She shows us the myriad ways in which this sustains and guides her, shining the light

Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust

Immaculee Ilibagiza · 215 pages

Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee's family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans. Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other

Banished: Surviving My Years in the Westboro Baptist Church

Lauren Drain · 300 pages

"In the tradition of Escape and Stolen innocence, the first look behind the curtains of the Westboro Baptist Church, by a young woman cast out from its clutches"--Provided by the publisher. Lauren Drain's childhood seemed average American, but when her liberal-minded father set out to film a documentary about the audacious and cultish hate group, the Westboro Baptist Church, he found himself se