★ 2026 International Book Awards Finalist

★ 2026 Illumination Book Awards Gold Medal Winner

"Wilson doesn't clean himself up for the audience. The writing has the kind of honesty most memoirs sidestep."—Asher Syed, Readers' Favorite ★★★★★

"The author writes with candor, insight, and emotion — and without a shred of self-pity."—Elizabeth Ridley, Coauthor of The Dirt Beneath Our Door (Matt Holt Books, 2025)

Where do you belong when the place you called home no longer wants you?

Raised in poverty in the backwoods of South Alabama, John grew up amid violence, instability, and fear. Home was never safe. Love was never secure.

When a small Pentecostal church offered safety, purpose, and belonging, he embraced it completely.

But belonging came at a price.

To remain part of that world, he had to hide the truth about himself—a truth he was taught would send him straight to hell.

So he abandoned himself and became the person everyone needed him to be.

A husband.

A father.

A pastor.

For years, he believed that obedience, sacrifice, and faithfulness would finally earn him a place to belong.

But when he could no longer hide the truth, the life he had spent decades building collapsed, forcing him from the only world he had ever known.

Today, as a psychologist, John returns to the ruins of his past to understand what it cost to abandon himself in order to belong—and what it takes to come home.

Straight to Hell is an award-winning memoir about the price of belonging, the courage of telling the truth, and the possibility of finding home after exile.