Godstruck

Seven Women's Unexpected Journeys to Religious Conversion

By: Kelsey Osgood

Narrated by: Kelsey Osgood

A candid, thought-provoking exploration of contemporary women’s experiences of religious conversion and the relationship between faith and fulfillment in our time

Religious involvement has been declining in the West for decades—and, though men have historically outnumbered women among the disaffiliated in the U.S., a greater share of the young adults leaving religion today are women. A young, secular Kelsey Osgood would have been surprised to hear that she would be among those moving in the opposite direction. And yet, after the conversion to Orthodox Judaism that transformed her life, she began to wonder about the other contemporary women who, like her, had been startled to find a home in organized religion.

In Godstruck, she profiles six other converts—some raised firmly atheist, others agnostic or religious—navigating independent paths to religious devotion. From Angela, a data-driven writer and journalist who finds herself drawn to Quaker meetings, to Hana, whose conversion to Islam leads her halfway around the world, to Christina, whose Amish faith transforms her relationship to modernity, these women’s unexpected revelations introduce them to new and sometimes radically different ways of living. Along the way, Osgood charts a fascinating course through a wide range of cultural references—from Saint Augustine, Simone Weil, and Tolstoy to desert hermits, Alcoholics Anonymous, and contemporary feminism—to explore some of our attempts to understand and cope with the mysteries of life and the human condition.

Driven by a profound curiosity and anchored by intimate reporting, Godstruck is a provocative, insightful, and refreshingly nuanced exploration of both the joys and the challenges of faith that reveals what these seekers can teach all of us about modern life and our own searches for meaning.

©2025 Kelsey Osgood (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Ambition, work, family, happiness—are these secular longings all there is to life? Anyone who has asked themselves this question will be moved and unsettled by these seven women seeking God and finding faith in the most traditional—which, for them, means also unlikely and countercultural—of places.” —Larissa MacFarquhar, author of Strangers Drowning: Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Urge to Help

“I love this beautifully written, thoughtful, sensitive, prismatic book. Recursive, gracious, intelligent, and heartfelt, like Rachel Aviv meets C.S. Lewis in the grand tradition of Elaine Pagels and Abraham Joshua Heschel, it's a necessary and vital reminder that real open-mindedness can take many unpredictable forms. Essential reading for the curious and the skeptical alike.” —Elisa Albert, author of Human Blues