Holy Ghost Girl: A Memoir
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A compassionate, humorous story of faith, betrayal, and coming of age on the sawdust trail
She was just three years old when her mother signed on as the organist of tent revivalist David Terrell, and before long, Donna Johnson was part of the hugely popular evangelical preacher’s inner circle. At seventeen, she left the ministry for good, with a trove of stranger-than-fiction memories. A homecoming like no other, Holy Ghost Girl brings to life miracles, exorcisms, and face-offs with the Ku Klux Klan—and that’s just what went on under the tent.
As Terrell became known worldwide during the 1960s and ’70s, the caravan of broken-down cars and trucks that made up his ministry evolved into fleets of Mercedes and airplanes. The glories of the Word mixed with betrayals of the flesh, and Donna’s mother bore Terrell’s children in one of several secret households he maintained. Thousands of followers, dubbed “Terrellites” by the press, left their homes to await the end of the world in cult-like communities. Jesus didn’t show, but the IRS did, and the prophet-healer went to prison.
Recounted with deadpan observations and surreal detail, Holy Ghost Girl bypasses easy judgment to articulate a rich world where the mystery of faith and human frailty share a surprising and humorous coexistence.
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Donna Johnson grew up calling evangelical minister David Terrell “Daddy.” She left his ministry for good at the age of seventeen and has not returned since. She has written about religion for the Dallas Morning News and the Austin American-Statesman. With her husband, she owns and operates Bazzirk, Inc., a marketing and advertising firm that runs marketing programs around the world. She maintained a residency at the Ragdale Foundation in spring 2009 and won the Mayborn Creative Nonfiction Prize for Manuscript in Progress in 2007 for Holy Ghost Girl. She lives in Austin and is active in the local writing community.
Carrington MacDuffie is a voice actor and recording artist who has narrated over two hundred audiobooks, received numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has been a frequent finalist for the Audie Award, including for her original audiobook, Many Things Invisible. Alongside her narration work, she has released a new album of original songs, Only an Angel.
