Wayward is now available on Audible and is narrated by the author!
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“a necessary addition to the literature surrounding spiritual abuse . . . Greczyn honors the survivors of such trauma and provides a pathway for others to follow.”
— Garrard Conley, author of New York Times best-selling memoir ‘Boy Erased’
“You will smile, you will cry, and You will be riveted . . . Wayward isn’t just a book you read. It is a book you feel—with every beautifully written page. A truly towering achievement.”
— Ali A. Rizvi, author of ‘The Atheist Muslim: A Journey From Religion to Reason’
“REQUIRED READING.”
— Jessica Wilbanks, author of ‘When I Spoke in Tongues: A Story of Faith and Its Loss’
W a y w a r d
A Memoir of Spiritual Warfare & Sexual Purity
When Alice Greczyn’s parents felt called by God to exchange worldly employment for heavenly provision, they followed their faith into homelessness with five children and a cat in tow. Homeschooled and avowed never to kiss a man until her wedding day, Alice had plans to escape the instability by becoming a missionary nurse—plans that were put on hold with the opening of an unexpected door: the opportunity to be an actress in Hollywood. What followed was a test of faith unlike any she had prepared for, an arranged betrothal she never saw coming, and a psychological shattering that forced her to learn how to survive without the only framework for life she had ever known.
This unique coming-of-age story takes place within a Christian subculture that teaches children to be martyrs and women to be silent. Revelatory, vulnerable, and offering catharsis for your own journey through faith and doubt, Wayward is a deeply intelligent memoir of soul-searching—and finding the courage to live in your own truth.
A timely exposé . . .
A vagabond upbringing and a crisis of faith amid the glitz and glamour of Hollywood lend the comparison of Wayward to a cross between Jeannette Walls’s The Glass Castle and Leah Remini’s Troublemaker, if alcoholism and Scientology were replaced by the religious fanaticism of Charismatic Christianity.
From homelessness to show business, from purity rings to topless modeling gigs, and from spirituality to science, Alice’s memoir offers validation and hope to the growing number of people leaving organized religion in droves. Seventy-eight percent of Americans leave the faith of their childhoods, and a resounding demand for true stories unpacking this personal exodus is proven by the success of Tara Westover’s Educated, Garrard Conley’s Boy Erased, and Megan Phelps-Roper’s Unfollow.
Alice’s debut book joins the shelf of stories providing encouragement to those quietly piecing their lives back together after what can be a devastating shift of faith. In the era of Donald Trump, Alice’s story also offers those struggling to understand the Christian Right an inside glimpse into the childhood conditioning of many evangelicals.
Written in an engaging and vivid style, Wayward is about faith, family, and fractured dreams—and finding meaning when life’s purpose seems lost.
Wayward is now available in audiobook, and in paperback and eBook wherever books are sold online!
Bonus Material!
Did you love Wayward? Do you love memoirs with photographs from the author’s life?
You’ll love A Wayward Scrapbook!
This 28-page digital scrapbook designed to accompany Wayward includes photos, mementos, and real-life journal entries from Alice’s youth. It is available as a PDF download you can instantly view from your phone or computer.
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