A candid, gracefully written memoir of faith, identity, and hard-won peace.
Young’s debut is an intimate and deeply affecting memoir that follows one man’s fall into spiritual emptiness and his slow, hard-won rediscovery of love and faith. Young begins his story at the height of success. A wealthy pharmaceutical executive in Chicago, he enjoys every privilege. And still, he feels profoundly empty. He writes candidly about the illusion of success and how ambition can hide the loneliness beneath. Beneath the surface confidence is a man worn down by privilege and hungry for meaning. That disconnection, Young reveals, began long before his success. Adopted into a loving Christian family, he grew up grounded in belief, yet the moment he understood he was gay, secrecy and shame quietly entered his life. His reflections on this period are tender and unsparing, capturing the pain of hiding one’s truth in a world unready to accept it.
When his career collapses decades later, so does the façade. Moving with his husband to Las Vegas—a city built on illusion—he begins, ironically, to find clarity. There, he reawakens to a God defined not by dogma but by Love: unconditional, healing, and human. The writing throughout is accessible and sincere, alternating between humor and reflection, confession and revelation. Pop-culture nods and musical chapter titles give the narrative an unmistakable Gen X texture. By its end, Young’s story resolves not in triumph but in peace. Having stripped away ego, he rediscovers the quiet truth that sustained his earliest faith: that every person is worthy of love, and that returning to this awareness is the real miracle. Lovers of finely crafted spiritual journeys grounded in real-world experience won’t want to miss this one.
Pub date September 8, 2025
Hugh House Press
ISBN 979-8998827105
Price $24.95 (USD) Hardcover, $14.95 Paperback, $4.99 Kindle edition
