Overview

Nephi Willard has done everything right. He served a two-year mission in Albania. He reads scripture every day. He's never tasted coffee. For four years, he's been the most reliable executive secretary his Bishop has ever had. By every measure the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses to define a good Mormon, Nephi is one. Except for the part he's been hiding for thirty years. When Nephi finally tells his Bishop that he's gay - and that he can't accept a doctrine that excludes him from salvation - the fallout is swift. His calling is revoked. His Stake President, who also happens to be his boss, calls him a pervert. A church disciplinary council threatens to strip away everything he's built his identity around. Then Bradley shows up - a teenager thrown out by his own family for coming out - and Nephi discovers that opening his door to someone in need cracks open his own life in ways he never expected. A friendship with Alex, a sharp-tongued chef who drives a Prius and has opinions about Nephi's gas-guzzling truck, pushes him further toward a question he's spent his whole life avoiding: Can he be both gay and Mormon, or will he have to choose? Set in Utah's Happy Valley, Nephi's Courage is a story about faith and identity, chosen family and stubborn love, and what it costs to finally stop living a lie. It's heartbreaking and funny, sometimes on the same page. For readers who love stories about finding yourself without losing your soul. Contains depictions of mental health crisis, family rejection, and sexual violence. If you or someone you know needs support, please call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. Winner of the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award International Book Awards Finalist

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Reviews

""What's wonderful about this novel (in an often infuriating way) is that Nephi Willard is an exemplary Mormon. Unlike many other Mormons in good standing who bend or break rules occasionally, Nephi religiously does not drink alcohol or coffee, watch porn, or curse. Most importantly-even though he has always been same-sex attracted (which according to church doctrine is NOT a sin unless the attraction is acted upon)-he completely adheres to the no-physical-intimacy-outside-of-marriage rule, and has never been sexual with anyone, male or female. Yet important fellow Mormons find him (and LGBTQ people in general) distasteful, disgraceful and immoral. Readers may come away having more feelings about the ins-and-outs of Mormonism than about the characters themselves in Rory McFarlan's NEPHI'S COURAGE, but it's still a worthy tale of faith, friendship, being true to one's self, and the miracle of falling in love."" -IndieReader ""A deftly written story that, while a work of fiction, quite accurately portrays the condition of being a gay man in a Mormon dominated society. An engaging and emotionally powerful novel by an author with an impressive flair for the kind of narrative driven storytelling that emotionally rivets the readers full attention from cover to cover, ""Nephi's Courage"" is the kind of story that will linger in the mind and memory of the reader long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf."" - Midwest Book Review ""McFarlan's novel does an impressive job of laying out the stakes of being a gay Mormon--particularly one who continues to devoutly follow his religion after coming to terms with his sexuality."" - Kirkus Reviews ""McFarlan's emotional contemporary romance debut grapples with being a gay believer in a hostile religious environment... This sympathetic exploration of the clash of sexuality and Mormon faith will have broad appeal for readers of contemporary romance."" - Booklife Reviews ""Nephi's Courage: Story of a Bad Mormon by Rory McFarlan is about a man who is actually a good Mormon, but also gay. The story follows his life as he tries to balance the demands of his church with his real beliefs about a loving God and his own nature. There is so much here that interests me! Overall, I enjoyed this book and found it well worth reading... I recommend it to anyone interested in the overlapping issues of religion and sexuality."" - Rhiannon Grant - Brigid, Fox, and Buddha: a personal homepage and blog

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