Hail Mary by Elise Shelton

Taking its name from a common Catholic prayer, “Hail Mary” is a growth journey through gender, family, self, sex, and spirituality through the lens of a tall, queer girl who never fit into the boxes she was placed in.

This book is a memoir in the forms of poetry and prose, offering the author’s perspectives on love and faith at the end of her 29th year.

Each chapter within is named after a line of the Christian “Our Father” prayer, which is recited at the end of repentance when one seeks atonement for their sins. In this book, our author takes us on her journey to be cleansed of beliefs that caused her to abandon self in search of God.