Kristen Skedgell, author of the popular memoir Losing the Way, was born in Nyack, New York and graduated from The Johns Hopkins University.  She was a member of a fundamentalist cult called The Way for fifteen years until she was rescued by her mother at age twenty-nine. After leaving the cult, she graduated from Yale Divinity School and Columbia University School of Social Work.

      Losing the Way:  A Memoir of Spiritual Longing, Manipulation, Abuse and Escape (Bay Tree Publishing, 2008) recounts Ms. Skedgell's experience in a religious cult.  It has been hailed as "gripping and astonishing" by Burton Bernstein, former staff writer for The New Yorker.  Kathryn Harrison, author of The Kiss writes that the author "loses her way in life but not on the page." Losing the Way has received starred reviews on both Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com.  The book is also available on Kindle.

      Ms. Skedgell has appeared in the prestigious Litchfield County Writers Series where a videotaped interview with director Davyne Verstanding was produced.  She has been on several radio shows including Mike Feder on Sirius Satellite, WBAI in New York. The author has had many book signings at libraries, churches and bookstores including Border's Books.  Newspaper articles have appeared in the award-winning Litchfield County Times which proclaimed her book as "fascinating and compelling." She has also conducted several online interviews and maintains a "cult following."

      Additional publications by the author include articles in The Johns Hopkins Magazine, The Exeter Bulletin and local newspapers.  She lives with her husband in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains where she also works as a clinical social worker.