Foreword

Recently, there are many new books out about leaving Mormonism. I’ve been asked to comment on some of them, and I am humbled by the courage I see in these writers. Each has something new and important to say.

So, with so many autobiographical works on the same subject, do we need another? The answer is a resounding “Yes!”

Tracy Tennant’s realistic book is a look at not just LDS doctrine but LDS life. I’ve never read a book that so accurately—and sympathetically—looked at the challenges of trying to be a future goddess who’ll rule worlds when your children’s antics in church cause your fellow Mormons to leave services in a huff; or when the “spirit’s leading” causes you to try to chase down your own car.

To be honest, at first I didn’t feel I had time to read this book. I intended to skim over it, but ended up reading every word, savoring all the stories, laughing out loud over and over again.

The unique gift of this book—which may make it more apt to be read by a faithful Mormon woman than perhaps any other “ExMoBio” on the market—is its humor and vulnerability. Tracy doesn’t represent herself as perfect, or even as a role model. I think she was as flabbergasted as the reader will be by the turns her life took. Her journey through Mormonism was costly to herself and even her closest relationships.

Call it gallows humor, if you will. But it is one of the funniest and most insightful books I’ve ever read.

Latayne C. Scott,
author of The Mormon Mirage, Latter-day Cipher, Why We Left Mormonism, Why We Left a Cult, and After Mormonism, What?