Straight to Hell

Finalist - 2026 International Book Awards Gold Medal Winner - 2026 Illumination Book Awards"Wilson doesn't clean himself up for the audience. The writing has the kind of honesty most memoirs sidestep."- Asher Syed, Readers' Favorite "The author writes with candor, insight, and emotion - and without a shred of self-pity." - Elizabeth Ridley, Coauthor of The Dirt Beneath Our Door (Matt Holt Books, 2025)Where do you belong when the place you called home no longer wants you?Raised in poverty in the backwoods of South Alabama, he grew up amid violence, instability, and fear. Home was never safe. Love was never secure.Then a small Pentecostal church at the edge of a cotton field offered safety, purpose, and the family he longed for.But belonging came at a price.To remain part of that world, he had to hide the truth about himself that his faith condemned-a truth he was taught would send him straight to hell.So he abandoned himself and became the person everyone needed him to be.A husband.A father.An Evangelical pastor.For years, he believed that obedience, sacrifice, and faithfulness would finally earn him a place to belong. But when the truth finally surfaced, the life he had spent decades building collapsed around him-costing him his marriage, his ministry, his reputation, and the family he loved.Forced to leave behind the only world he had ever known, John began the difficult work of rebuilding a life rooted not in performance, but in authenticity. Along the way, he discovered that the home he had spent a lifetime searching for could never be found by abandoning himself.Raw, honest, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful, Straight to Hell is an award-winning memoir about shame, religious trauma, self-abandonment, and the courage to discover that the truth you were taught would destroy you might be the very thing that sets you free.*Includes book club questions and discussion guide.