ABOUT THIS BOOK

In this candid and revelatory memoir, Erin O. White shares her hunger for both romantic and divine love, and how these desires transformed her life. In the late 1990s, she spent Saturday nights with her girlfriend and Sunday mornings in Catholic confirmation classes. But when the Church closed its doors to her, she was faced with a question: What does a lesbian believer do with her longing for God? Given Up for You explores these yearnings with bittersweet conviction, plumbing the depths of heart and soul.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Erin O. White is a writing instructor and author whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Portland Magazine, and several anthologies, most recently The Bitch Is Back: Older, Wiser, and (Getting) Happier. A native of Colorado, she lives in Massachusetts with her wife and daughters.

REVIEWS

"Reckoning with the rival claims of queer desire and Catholic faith, Erin O. White has written that rare and wonderful thing: an intimately personal page-turner that raises complex questions about the wider world and our future in it."
—Leni Zumas, author of Red Clocks

"A testament to the struggle to reconcile desire and belief, and a poignant reminder of what's lost when a church refuses to open its doors wide. In beautiful prose, White shares her grief and longing for a faith denied, and in that telling claims a wholeness that was hers all along."
—Sarah Sentilles, author of Breaking Up with God

"A wonderful book about the blessings—and burdens—of love, both spiritual and carnal. In White's heart, there may be no act more subversive than surrender, no prayer more devout than desire itself. Joyful, erotic, and contemplative. A miracle!"
—Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of She's Not There

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 The Dinner Party
2 Basement Chapels
3 The Long Loneliness
4 Let a Joy Keep You
5 Ordinary Beds
6 Wake
7 Rules of Engagement
8 A Harmonious Match
9 Trust
10 Grace
11 The Church on the Hill
12 Milk Dud
13 Florida
14 Family Week
15 Eleanor’s Desk
16 Remodel or Divorce
17 Today I Saw God in the Face of a Kitten
18 The Memory of Hunger
19 Easter
20 Sisters of Wisdom
21 Betteen God and Me There Is No Me
22 School Days
23 A Nest on the Altar

Epilogue: Carol
Acknowledgments

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