An NPR commentatorâs story of an unlikely epiphany and the healing power of faith
After years of sleeping around, working as a waitress, and suffering booze- induced blackouts, Heather King settled into sobriety, marriage, and a financially lucrative but unfulfilling career in a Beverly Hills law firm. As someone who had reached middle age ânever believing in much of anything,â she found herself in the last place she thought sheâd end up: the Catholic church.
Redeemed describes the steps of Kingâs journeyâfrom finding herself holed up on the couch reading Hermits of the World (and then wondering why she and her husband werenât having sex) to dealing with the breast cancer that brought her face-to-face with the Virgin Mary. With the death of her father and the devastation of divorce, she connects with Jesus Christ: âA guy who hung out with lepers, paralytics, the possessed: this is someone I can trust.â
This is a profound, fervent, darkly funny tale of an ongoing conversion by a Catholic who, however devout, is about as far from saintlike as can be imagined. Fans of Lauren Winnersâs Girl Meets God and Anne Lamottâs writings will be drawn to Kingâs refreshing sense of humor, mesmerizing voice, and piercing honesty.
âThis memoir deserves to be as popular as Elizabeth Gilbertâs best- selling Eat, Pray, Love.â
âThe Boston Globe
âRather than offering easy epiphanies and candy-coated narratives, Kingâs book is as honest and raw as the model of the spiritual memoir, the âConfessionsâ of St. Augustineâ¦.To witness someone of such emotional dexterity and moral depth struggle is moving and instructiveâ¦.King is nonjudgmental, generous and insightful about the spiritual journey.â
âLos Angeles Times
âA story with depth, rare balance, humor, and with a near-perfect eye for what is important, true to the perception that âsin, degradation, and scandal arenât that interesting,â but âconversion is.ââ A conversion story along the lines of St. Augustineâs classic. Youâll learn how grace works.â
âRon Rolheiser, author of The Holy Longing and The Restless Heart
âThis is really the story of two callingsâto faith and to a lifeâs workâ¦a riveting depiction of a lost soul foundâ
âKirkus
âIâm hugely grateful for this âmisfit,â and for her words, which I keep copying down into my own misfit notebook. In hard times, Heather King is one of the people of hope.â
âJean Valentine, National Book Award-winning author of Door in the Mountain
âIn its structure and purpose, Heather Kingâs Redeemed is not unlike St. Augustineâs Confessions. That first Christian conversion narrative, often misconstrued as being an acknowledgment of past sins, is really a confession of faith in God and the luminous praise of a grateful heart. Similarly, in this well-written, insightful and funny book, Heather King, a frequent commentator on NPRâs âAll Things Considered,â does not deny her hard lifeâ¦.Rather, she writes an eloquent hymn of gratitude and wonder for her Catholic life.â
âNational Catholic Reporter
âKing writes from the heart.â
âRocky Mountain News
âA must-read for anyone on the spiritual journey that defines the essence of learning to live life on lifeâs terms, while thereâs still time.â
âWilliam Cope Moyers, author of Broken
"A brutally honest, moving and heartfelt memoir."
âAmerica, The National Catholic Weekly
A lawyer turned writer, Heather King is a commentator for NPRâs All Things Considered and a communicant at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Los Angeles. She is the author of the memoir Parched. Her work has appeared in the Best American Spiritual Writing anthologies.
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc
Imprint: Viking Adult
Distributor: Penguin Group USA, Inc
Publication Date: 02-21-2008
Pages: 256
Measurements: 8.44in X 5.78in X 0.94in X 0.78lb
