Sacred Road: my journey through abuse, leaving the Mormons & embracing spirituality

This memoir follows Todd Maxwell Preston's path through a childhood shaped by abuse and his eventual departure from the Mormon church. When he learned, at thirty-five, that his father had himself been sexually abused as a boy, he had to reconsider the anger and rage that had defined his sense of self. His family's violent and dysfunctional upbringing had treated cruelty as ordinary, and the church's emphasis on appearances and obedience made the problem harder to see. Preston writes about letting go of the story he had built around his past and about the ways hurt is passed from one generation to the next. Rather than defending himself, he tries to understand what he and the people around him were feeling when they made painful choices. He addresses survivors, abusers and anyone trying to understand how abuse affects families, and the book becomes a reflection on finding meaning in spirituality after leaving the faith.