Conversion is never neat and tidy. We like to think of “the new life” as a radical break from the past. But in reality the threads of our prior lives—both good and bad—are woven into our present.

Few know this as well as Megan Phelps-Roper, author of the new memoir Unfollow, and a former member of the now-infamous Westboro Baptist Church. She talks with us about her formative early years in that community, as well as her faith journey since, in which she’s discovered spiritual freedom and a growing comfort with uncertainty.

Plus, Dominic and the Commonweal staff chat about the new Fall Books issue, which features a profile of Catholic poet Fanny Howe.