An empowering story of self-actualization by a former Christian pop star whose life was transformed when she began reading forbidden books.

At the peak of her fame, Julianna Glasse was a pop star, an exemplary wife, and a glamorous, high-profile influencer, one half of a Christian power couple. She and her husband, a Major League Baseball star, led Bible studies for his team and their wives. But when her love of reading led her to books like Plato’s Republic, de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, Emerson’s essays, and poems by Dickinson, Rumi, and Rilke, something inside her shifted and she began to question things she’d previously accepted as truth. Aware she had crossed a line, she hid the books under her bed, in her linen closet, wherever they wouldn’t be found. When her husband discovered them, he was furious: “This is what happens when women read!” he bellowed—a phrase that liberated her. She left her marriage, the church, and her married name behind and embarked on a mission to educate herself and help women like her claim their agency.

In this riveting memoir, Julianna writes of her very public and painful split from both the church and her husband—the self-hatred, depression, shame, and suicidal impulses that almost destroyed her; the books she read that inspired her to embrace life as an autonomous, independent woman and pursue an advanced degree from Oxford University; and, finally, her path to self-discovery and purpose.

With a suggested reading list at the back of the book, This Is What Happens When Women Read is at once a dramatic personal story, a conversation starter about women’s liberation, and an inspiring tribute to the power of books.