The Lonely Women of Faith: A Journey into the World of Religious Conversion

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A candid, thought-provoking exploration of contemporary women’s experiences of religious conversion and the relationship between faith and fulfillment in our timeIn recent decades, Americans have become less likely to identify with any organized religion. Yet 70 percent of U.S. adults describe themselves as spiritual in some way or say that spirituality is very important in their lives. In an era marked by loneliness, mass violence, the climate crisis, political polarization, and steep technological change, the enduring questions of how to find community and purpose and live a meaningful life haven’t gone away—they’ve become more urgent and crucial. In The Lonely Women of Faith, Kelsey Osgood, a convert herself, profiles seven young women from various backgrounds—some raised firmly atheist, others agnostic or religious—charting independent paths into organized religion in adulthood, embracing traditions that are vastly different from their upbringings, and wrestling with the complexities of their choices. From Angela, an avowed rationalist who finds herself undeniably drawn to Quakerism, to Hana, whose conversion to Islam leads her halfway around the world, to Christina, whose Amish faith transforms her lifestyle and relationship to technology, these women’s unexpected revelations introduce them to new and sometimes radically different ways of living.Driven by a profound curiosity and anchored by intimate reporting and Osgood’s own transformative conversion experience, The Lonely Women of Faith is an evocative, insightful, and refreshingly nuanced exploration of both the joys and the challenges of faith that reveals what these seekers can teach us about modern life and our own search for meaning.

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