Boy erased: a memoir of identity, faith and family. Gerrard Conley. 2018.

The son of a Baptist pastor in small-town Arkansas, Gerrard Conley was outed to his parents at nineteen and forced to attend a church-supported conversion therapy programme that promised to ‘cure’ him of homosexuality.

Through an institutionalised Twelve-Step programme heavy on Bible study, he was supposed to emerge heterosexual, ex-gay, cleansed of impure urges and stronger in his faith in God for his brush with sin. Instead, even when faced with a harrowing and brutal journey, Gerrard found the strength and understanding to break out in search of his true self and forgiveness. At times heartbreaking, at times triumphant, this memoir is testament to love that survives despite all odds.