The Lonely Women of Faith: A Journey Into the World of Religious Conversion

A candid, thought-provoking exploration of contemporary women’s experiences of religious conversion and the relationship between faith and fulfillment in our time

In recent decades, Americans have become less likely to identify with any organized religion. Yet 70 percent of U.S. adults describe themselves as spiritual in some way or say that spirituality is very important in their lives. In an era marked by atomization, polarization, and rapid change, the enduring questions of how to find community and purpose and live a meaningful life haven’t gone away--they’ve become more urgent and crucial.

In Godstruck, Kelsey Osgood profiles seven young women from various backgrounds--some raised firmly atheist, others agnostic or religious--charting independent paths into organized religion in adulthood and wrestling with the complexities of their choices. From Angela, a data-driven writer and journalist who finds herself undeniably drawn to Quaker meetings, to Hana, whose conversion to Islam leads her halfway around the world, to Christina, whose Amish faith transforms her relationship to modernity, these women’s unexpected revelations introduce them to new and sometimes radically different ways of living. Along the way, Osgood charts a fascinating course through a wide range of cultural, historical, and psychological references--from Saint Augustine, Simone Weil, and Tolstoy to desert hermits, Alcoholics Anonymous, and contemporary feminism--to explore some of our various attempts to understand and cope with the human condition.

Driven by a profound curiosity and anchored by intimate reporting and Osgood’s own transformative conversion experience, Godstruck is a provocative, insightful, and refreshingly nuanced exploration of both the joys and the challenges of faith that reveals what these seekers can teach us about modern life and our own search for meaning.

Kelsey Osgood is a graduate of Columbia University and Goucher College’s creative nonfiction MFA program. Her work has appeared in New York, The New Yorker, Time, Harper’s Magazine, and elsewhere. Her first book, How to Disappear Completely: On Modern Anorexia, was chosen for the Barnes & Noble Discover program.