2020 Christian Book Award ®: Biography & Memoir Finalists

The pre-conversion formative years of C.S. Lewis are often overlooked by biographers in favor of his later life as a foremost Christian apologist. But Poe sees those early experiences---habits and tastes he developed in boarding school, his delight in literature, key personal relationships, his deep personal struggles and intense pursuit of joy---as seminal to all he became. 288 pages, hardcover. Crossway.

Their paths to God's purpose led them together.

Many know the heroic story of Jim Elliot's violent death in 1956, killed along with four other missionaries by a primitive Ecuadorian tribe they were seeking to reach. Many also know the prolific legacy of Elisabeth Elliot, whose inspiring influence on generations of believers through print, broadcast, and personal testimony continues to resonate, even after her own death in 2015.

What many don't know is the remarkable story of how these two stalwart personalities-single-mindedly devoted to pursuing God's will for their young lives, certain their future callings would require them to sacrifice forever the blessings of marriage-found their hearts intertwined. Their paths to God's purpose led them together.

Now, for the first time, their only child-daughter Valerie Elliot Shepard-unseals never-before-published letters and private journals that capture in first-person intimacy the attraction, struggle, drama, and devotion that became a most unlikely love story.

Riveting for old and young alike, this moving account of their personal lives shines as a gold mine of lived-out truth, hard-fought purity, and an insider's view on two beloved Christian figures.

In 1993, Andrew and Norine Brunson traveled to Turkey---the world's largest unevangelized country---to serve as missionaries. Their work with Syrian refugees, including Kurds, gained attention and suspicion. In 2016, both were arrested. Norine was released, but Andrew was accused of spying and incarcerated. This is the tension-laden, faith-laced account of his imprisonment, brokenness, and eventual freedom. 251 pages, hardcover from Baker.

Go behind the headlines with Rachael Denhollander---the first public accuser of former U.S.A. Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar. Revealing her full story for the first time, Denhollander shines a light on the physical and emotional impacts of abuse, why so many survivors are reluctant to speak out, what it means to be believed, and more. 347 pages, hardcover from Tyndale.

After South Sudan's civil war killed her family in the late 1980s, 4-year-old Deng lived in a Kenyan refugee camp for eight years. There she suffered hunger, illness, and soldiers' menacing threats before she arrived in America through God's intervention. Her haunting story of hope and redemption will inspire you to keep the faith, too! 304 pages, hardcover from Faithwords.