Where the Light Fell: A Memoir

Written by:
Philip Yancey
Narrated by:
Philip Yancey

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
16
Narrator
7
Release Date
October 2021
Duration
11 hours 17 minutes
Summary
In this searing meditation on the bonds of family and the allure of extremist faith, one of today’s most celebrated Christian writers recounts his unexpected journey from a strict fundamentalist upbringing to a life of compassion and grace—a revelatory memoir that “invites comparison to Hillbilly Elegy” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
 
“Searing, heartrending . . . This stunning tale reminds us that the only way to keep living is to ask God for the impossible: love, forgiveness, and hope.”—Kate Bowler, New York Times bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason

Raised by an impoverished widow who earned room and board as a Bible teacher in 1950s Atlanta, Philip Yancey and his brother, Marshall, found ways to venture out beyond the confines of their eight-foot-wide trailer. But when Yancey was in college, he uncovered a shocking secret about his father’s death—a secret that began to illuminate the motivations that drove his mother to extreme, often hostile religious convictions and a belief that her sons had been ordained for a divine cause.

Searching for answers, Yancey dives into his family origins, taking us on an evocative journey from the backwoods of the Bible Belt to the bustling streets of Philadelphia; from trailer parks to church sanctuaries; from family oddballs to fire-and-brimstone preachers and childhood awakenings through nature, music, and literature. In time, the weight of religious and family pressure sent both sons on opposite paths—one toward healing from the impact of what he calls a “toxic faith,” the other into a self-destructive spiral.

Where the Light Fell is a gripping family narrative set against a turbulent time in post–World War II America, shaped by the collision of Southern fundamentalism with the mounting pressures of the civil rights movement and Sixties-era forces of social change. In piecing together his fragmented personal history and his search for redemption, Yancey gives testament to the enduring power of our hunger for truth and the possibility of faith rooted in grace instead of fear.

“I truly believe this is the one book I was put on earth to write,” says Yancey. “So many of the strands from my childhood—racial hostility, political division, culture wars—have resurfaced in modern form. Looking back points me forward.”
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Sandra H.

Phillip writes in a poetic way. His life story is a moving account of facing the difference between who God is and what the local church can fail to be. The two are not the same. You will laugh, cry and cringe at what the Church really looks like and you will be overwhelmed by the pursuit of God towards us. A book of eternal truth. Phillip does his own narration, and is so honest that you will understand so much more about the many sides of American evangelicalism. The audio book would be less with a different narrator. Well worth your time... I am on my 2nd listen already.

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Jonathan M.

A wonderful book. Anyone who grew up in the conservative evangelical movement will identify with various aspects of this memoir. This helps unpack and explain the author’s previous bestselling books.

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