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Unconverted: Memoir of a Marriage
Polly Ingraham’s Unconverted is a moving, often funny, and beautifully written memoir chronicling her unexpected marriage to an Episcopal priest and the even more surprising journey that followed. The book tells the story of a secular woman navigating life, love, and identity inside the deep tradition of the Episcopal Church, not as a convert, but as a skeptic and sometimes reluctant participant. Through candid reflection, Ingraham explores what it means to love someone whose beliefs are fundamentally different from your own and how a marriage can flourish without shared faith, provided there’s shared respect, curiosity, and deep affection.
Ingraham’s writing is sharp and unpretentious, often funny and achingly honest. She manages to be both thoughtful and down-to-earth as she walks us through moments of discomfort, discovery, and the quiet ache of being the odd one out in a world of ritual and belief. Her prose doesn’t waste words. She brings you in close, never asking for sympathy, only understanding. I especially appreciated her refusal to fake devotion just to fit in. That kind of integrity made me root for her all the way through. Her love for Rob is never in doubt, but she doesn’t sugarcoat the strain of being partnered with someone whose life is woven into a faith you don’t share.
There’s also something deeply comforting about her insistence on staying herself, even when the pressure to change would’ve made it easier. I felt her unease during the high church services, her resistance to the wafer and wine, her side-eye at the church politics, and clunky old houses with drafty corners. It felt real. And yet, what held this book together wasn’t doubt or division, it was tenderness. Her marriage, though often challenged by theological distance, is grounded in mutual admiration and a kind of quiet, dogged love that I found deeply moving. There’s no dramatic conversion here, no tidy resolution, but there is growth. And a kind of grace that doesn’t require belief to feel.
I’d recommend Unconverted to anyone who’s ever felt like a bit of an outsider in their own life or who’s struggled to be true to themselves while loving someone very different. It’s especially poignant for secular readers navigating religious families, marriages, or communities. This book doesn’t offer easy answers, but it offers something better: honesty, humor, and hope that two people can build a beautiful life without having to believe all the same things. That feels pretty miraculous to me.
Pages: 284 | ISBN : 978-1578694006
A Journey Into Manhood From the Path of an Idiot
Carandus Brown’s A Journey into Manhood from the Path of an Idiot is a raw and deeply personal memoir that chronicles one man’s long, often painful climb from childhood confusion to adult accountability. With each chapter framed as a “lesson,” Brown reflects on his life from traumatic events and broken family dynamics to brushes with the law, misguided relationships, and spiritual reckonings. What starts as a candid account of pain and dysfunction slowly morphs into a powerful meditation on growth, faith, and the courage to confront your past. This is a book about how a boy with no clear path to manhood stumbles, fights, learns, and ultimately walks that road anyway.
Reading this book felt like being handed someone’s journal, written with no filter and no concern for appearances. I admired that. Brown’s writing is emotional and gritty, full of hurt and hope in equal measure. He doesn’t try to dress up his experiences. He owns his mistakes, often with heartbreaking honesty, and that kind of vulnerability resonated with me. Some parts were painful to get through, especially the loss of his nephew and the scenes with his father, but those chapters gripped me. It’s not just the storytelling, though. It’s how Brown unpacks each memory, not just to remember it, but to understand what it meant, what it cost, and how it changed him.
There were moments when the writing got a little long-winded. I sometimes wished he’d pulled back just enough to let the reader breathe. But even in those moments, I could feel the sincerity behind every word. And there’s poetry in how he writes, even when he’s angry or confused; there’s rhythm and raw beauty to the way he strings his thoughts together. His lesson on education, how he faked reading as a kid just to survive the shame, hit me in the gut. And the spiritual themes, especially his talks with God, felt real. Not polished. Not preachy. Just real.
This isn’t a polished self-help book or a clinical story of recovery. It’s a firestorm of memory and meaning, one that will resonate with anyone who’s ever felt lost, unloved, or misunderstood. I’d recommend A Journey into Manhood from the Path of an Idiot to young men navigating tough upbringings, to anyone grappling with forgiveness, and to readers who crave stories that bleed truth. Brown may have taken the long way to manhood, but this book proves he got there, and he brought a whole lot of wisdom with him.
Pages: 160 | ISBN : 978-1681116082
I Wrote to Remember
I Finally Have the Smoking Hot Body I Have Always Wanted is a wildly honest, heartbreakingly funny, and beautiful tribute to your late mother, sharing with readers your mother’s bold personality and her passion for life. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Because watching someone you love disappear in slow motion – while sitting across the table from you, eating toast – is surreal, maddening, and in many strange moments, hilarious. Writing this book was how I made sense of it.
It gave structure to the chaos of Alzheimer’s and honoured the woman my mom was before, during, and even after her death.
She was vibrant, feisty, and deeply funny ( sometimes unintentionally), and I wanted readers to get to know Mom and realize just what an incredible woman was taken from us and from the world.
I wanted readers to know that Alzheimer’s erased pieces of her slowly over time, but not entirely…some of those pieces were just rearranged.
I wrote to remember, to grieve, to laugh, to educate, and to honour every single person affected by Alzheimer’s – and hopefully, in the process, help someone else feel a little less alone in their own upside-down world.
I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your family’s story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
It wasn’t the big dramatic moments that were hard to write- it was the quiet ordinary ones that were the most difficult to write about …they knocked the wind out of me.
The moments when I saw her doubt herself. When she looked at us with her eyes searching, trying to remember or to find the right words… hoping we’d fill in the blanks.
Writing about her confusion, her fear, reading her hospital records, and the way her confidence evaporated-that gutted me.
And maybe the hardest part? Owning up to my guilt about not having spent as much time with her as I might have, and that I wasn’t her primary caregiver. My dad and my sister were. They were in the trenches daily. I have endless respect for all the full-time caregivers who show up day after day, holding it all together.
During the brief reprieve I gave here and there, I felt heartbreak, more guilt, and helplessness.
Admitting it and writing that on paper made it real, and once published, I couldn’t take it back.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
Heartbreak and humour can—and often do —co-exist. That grief can be sneaky and slow and yet, darkly funny. That caregiving in all its forms…matters.
A reminder to always use the “people first” approach. There’s real dignity in that. Being remembered for the WHOLE person they were and not just the Alzheimer’s patient they became.
I also wanted to challenge the notion that writing about illness has to be sterile or solemn. Life is not tidy. Relationships are messy, and family dynamics aren’t perfect.
So, I wrote something messy, funny, painful, and true…because that’s what the journey was…
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your mom’s story?
I hope readers walk away thinking about their people-the ones who shaped them, annoyed them, challenged them (maybe drove them a little crazy), and loved them anyway.
I want them to feel compelled to tell their stories…even if there’s guilt, cracks, or unresolved issues. Especially if there is. There is healing in the process.
AND I hope readers realize that humour doesn’t minimize the pain – it makes space for survival.
Above all, I hope they fall a little in love with my Mom …because she really was pretty cool.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Instagram | Amazon
A moving, yet darkly funny, memoir.
Writer, Barb Drummond, grew up in a home filled with crazy antics, love, laughter, and an exceptionally unique and zany mother. Who else had a mom who specifically baked cream pies to throw at people she loved?
Her mom, however, drew the short straw by getting Alzheimer’s in her 60s. She lived with the monster for twenty years, and the disease stole her vibrant personality and voice. When Sybil died, an ordinary obituary just wouldn’t do. She was a glamorous Renaissance woman filled with creativity; a former ER nurse who saved lives; she was what movies are made of.
Barb wrote the quirky obituary with her mom’s voice. No one could’ve predicted her mother’s wild obituary would go viral within 24-hours-worldwide! The New York Post, The Irish Times, The London Times, The Huffington Post, CBC TV & Radio, Global, CTV, Hamilton Spectator, and many more media from Australia, UK, USA, and Singapore, spread the word to millions.
Hundreds of thousands of people internationally soon read about Sybil Marie Hicks and her smoking hot body and they wanted more!
Barb’s memoir takes you into her mother’s life and into the media whirlwind when her mom became an instant world-wide celebrity AFTER she died.
In this hilarious, quirky, and poignant memoir, I Finally Have the Smoking Hot Body I Have Always Wanted, Having Been Cremated, you’ll fall in love with Sybil and wish you’d known her in real life.
(Even if she’d smoosh a cream pie in your face!)
Literary Titan Gold Book Award: Fiction
The Literary Titan Book Award honors books that exhibit exceptional storytelling and creativity. This award celebrates novelists who craft compelling narratives, create memorable characters, and weave stories that captivate readers. The recipients are writers who excel in their ability to blend imagination with literary skill, creating worlds that enchant and narratives that linger long after the final page is turned.
Award Recipients
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
Literary Titan Book Award: Nonfiction
The Literary Titan Book Award recognizes outstanding nonfiction books that demonstrate exceptional quality in writing, research, and presentation. This award is dedicated to authors who excel in creating informative, enlightening, and engaging works that offer valuable insights. Recipients of this award are commended for their ability to transform complex topics into accessible and compelling narratives that captivate readers and enhance our understanding.
Award Recipients
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
Literary Titan Silver Book Award
Celebrating the brilliance of outstanding authors who have captivated us with their skillful prose, engaging narratives, and compelling real and imagined characters. We recognize books that stand out for their innovative storytelling and insightful exploration of truth and fiction. Join us in honoring the dedication and skill of these remarkable authors as we celebrate the diverse and rich worlds they’ve brought to life, whether through the realm of imagination or the lens of reality.
Award Recipients
The Adventures of Mrs. Hats: The Mayan Headdress by Christopher Corbett
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
South Carolina Matilda Evans: A Medical Pioneer
South Carolina’s Matilda Evans is a sweeping tribute to the life and legacy of Dr. Matilda Arabella Evans, the first African American woman licensed to practice medicine in South Carolina. The book traces her incredible journey from humble beginnings in the post-slavery South to becoming a fierce advocate for public health, education, and civil rights. Written by Walter B. Curry Jr., Anusha Ghosh, and Beverly Aiken Muhammad, the biography weaves together archival research, family history, and personal recollections to offer a detailed account of Evans’s personal resolve, her pioneering medical work, and her tireless efforts to uplift her community.
Reading this book was both moving and sobering. The writing is clean and clear, sometimes formal but never dry. What stood out most was the immense care the authors took in documenting not just Evans’s achievements, but the deeply rooted racial and historical forces she had to navigate. From her educational path at Schofield and the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, to the establishment of the Taylor Lane Hospital and Evans Clinic, her story is full of persistence and purpose. I was struck by the humility in her work. She didn’t seek the spotlight. She wanted people, especially poor Black families, to receive decent care. You can’t read this without feeling her heart. It honestly made me reflect on how easily we forget the giants who walked before us.
The book provides exhaustive detail at times about family lineage or local historical context that is informative, but slows the narrative. I found myself wishing for more intimate glimpses into Evans’s own thoughts, struggles, and inner life because what we are given is so fascinating. The book shows how she used her influence to fight for systemic change, founding the Negro Health Association, publishing her own journal, and confronting health inequality head-on. The authors’ deep personal connection to Evans adds another layer of warmth and respect, which I came to appreciate more as the chapters unfolded.
I’d recommend South Carolina’s Matilda Evans to anyone interested in women’s history, Black history, public health, or just good old-fashioned grit. It’s especially relevant for students and professionals in medicine, teaching, or social work. If you’ve ever doubted the power of one person to change the world, Dr. Matilda Evans’s life will shake you out of it.
Pages: 196 | ASIN : B0DZJ5FKRB
LITERARY TITAN 