Finding Redemption in Faith, and Writing

Like many children of the 1960s, Heather King went to church, in her case, in a New Hampshire Seacoast town. But she grew up not believing in much of anything. Alcohol, she says, became her god. And she spent decades in devotion.

Her acclaimed memoir Parched tells the story of sleeping around, morning drinks in crummy bars, stumbling through law school and finally hitting bottom and getting clean. Heather stayed sober, got married and raked in the dough as a hard-working L.A. lawyer, until she hit the wall with that life too. Middle-aged and exhausted, Heather King found a model for transforming suffering in the teachings of the Catholic Church - the last place she thought she’d end up.

Author and NPR commentator Heather King joins Word of Mouth live in the studio to discuss her latest memoir, Redeemed: A Spiritual Misfit Stumbles Toward God, Marginal Sanity, and the Peace That Passes All Understanding.

We also hear from younger people facing different challenges to finding and keeping their faith. Balancing peer pressure and individualism can put belief to the test for teenagers and college students. That may be especially true on a campus like the University of California-Berkeley, where "subverting the dominant paradigm" is a popular rallying cry. Some Christian students there feel they have to lose their religion just to fit in. Producer David Gelles reports on a small organization that's having a big impact on the spiritual lives of some Berkeley students.