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“There is a redemptive quality for an agitated mind in the spoken word, and a tormented soul finds peace in confessing.” Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
At the crossroads of personal rupture and global reckoning, this book chronicles one woman's journey from the silence of child/clergy sexual abuse to speaking at the United Nations. In prose both raw and luminous, the author traces her battle escaping an abusive marriage after her public disclosure of childhood abuse, and her unlikely ascent through Harvard Divinity School to a doctoral candidate at the University of Edinburgh. Women through these pages are the voices that steadied her (David F. Holland, her brother, God, and ancestors), and the convictions that drive her: that religious institutions must be held to account, that parish archives belong to the people they record, and that healing is a right, not a privilege. Moving between the LDS and Italian Catholic hierarchies, she exposes systems that prize reputation over moral ethics, even as she insists on staying in the "trenches" to help remake them. Part memoir, part manifesto, this book invites readers into a spiritual commons where transcendence is shared, not gated; where genealogies mend broken stories; and where the long-suppressed testimonies of survivors bend the moral arc toward justice. It is, ultimately, a call to listen, believe, and act.
Here's what people are saying!
Suzie invites readers into her life journey with raw courage, revealing a woman of remarkable strength, unwavering resolve, and radiant resilience. Through her choice to embrace post-traumatic growth, she testifies that even profound suffering can be alchemized into boundless love—proof that light blooms brightest after darkness.
— LISA MILLER Ph.D., NY Times Bestseller
I read The Stone Sphere in two days (essentially reading all day and into the evening. I am a slow reader, but I could not put it down. It is a masterful work! I have read many books where the authors share their story (which Suzanne does) and books which are an academic treatment of the same topic (which Suzanne does), but I very rarely find a book where someone can convey their journey AND integrate the academic analysis of their experience throughout the book. It is not easy to do, and Suzanne did it very well. My journey through the book consisted of tears and anger and ended with hope and admiration and many questions. An excellent book does that for me.
— SCOTT TAYLOR, Ph.D., Professor of Organizational Behavior & Arthur M. Blank Endowed Chair for Values-Based Leadership
Suzie’s harrowing journey confronts childhood sexual abuse and the moral injury of betrayal by her father, a faith leader. Through spiritual resilience, she navigates forgiveness, revealing God’s unwavering love amid atrocity. A raw, powerful testament to healing through grace and reclaiming light from darkness.
— JENNIFER S. WORTHAM Ph. H., Founder World Day for the Prevention & Healing of Child Sex Abuse
This is an amazing read. Not just a painful memoir; not just a spiritual triumph, Suzie’s story draws on scholarly lessons from the world of psychology and scripture. In a world where others would have just thrown in the towel, convinced that they live in an uncaring and indifferent world, Suzie takes Christian teachings to heart and uses those lessons not only for healing but also to rise up and make a difference in the uphill battle to take on the institutional networks that continue to protect similar child abusers. A must-read in this era of Epstein-influenced male predators who remain in power.
— GARY L. FRIEDMAN Photographer, Author & Lecturer
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