“At once an absorbing confessional memoir, a work of faith, a comedy and a literary achievement, Fish Out of Water by Eric Metaxas is one of the best books I’ve read [this year]. Gorgeously written, fun and spiritually enriching, deeply literate and hugely entertaining...” — Mark Judge, Stream.org

“At once an absorbing confessional memoir, a work of faith, a comedy and a literary achievement, Fish Out of Water by Eric Metaxas is one of the best books I’ve read [this year]. Gorgeously written, fun and spiritually enriching, deeply literate and hugely entertaining...” — Mark Judge, Stream.org

“How do brave men advance through adversity with courage and then summon courage from the rest of us? Read Eric Metaxas’s artfully scrappy memoir to cultivate courage and meet the public intellectual behind the books that we love. This memoir stands as a beacon to a world lost to us, and casts a tractor beam to a future which demands virtue, bravery, courage, and personal sacrifice...” — Rosaria Butterfield, author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert

“How do brave men advance through adversity with courage and then summon courage from the rest of us? Read Eric Metaxas’s artfully scrappy memoir to cultivate courage and meet the public intellectual behind the books that we love. This memoir stands as a beacon to a world lost to us, and casts a tractor beam to a future which demands virtue, bravery, courage, and personal sacrifice...” — Rosaria Butterfield, author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert

“According to Dostoevsky, when Russian boys meet, they talk about God. Reading the book by Eric Metaxas, I felt the author and myself as such Russian boys. His youth was spent in the USA, mine in the USSR – countries, to put it mildly, very different. Despite this, we are remarkably similar. This concerns our first literary impressions (special thanks to “Werther”!), our first own discoveries, and most importantly – what is commonly called universal values. Only good books create unity between author and reader – wherever each of them may live. Fish Out of Water is such a book. It sparkles with wonderful humor. This only happens with the most serious books.”
— Eugene Vodolazkin, author of Laurus

“According to Dostoevsky, when Russian boys meet, they talk about God. Reading the book by Eric Metaxas, I felt the author and myself as such Russian boys. His youth was spent in the USA, mine in the USSR – countries, to put it mildly, very different. Despite this, we are remarkably similar. This concerns our first literary impressions (special thanks to “Werther”!), our first own discoveries, and most importantly – what is commonly called universal values. Only good books create unity between author and reader – wherever each of them may live. Fish Out of Water is such a book. It sparkles with wonderful humor. This only happens with the most serious books.”
— Eugene Vodolazkin, author of Laurus

“The story rolls along and carries us with it, hilarious and heart-breaking by turns, vivid and contemplative, and regularly touched with poetry. Eric Metaxas is a brilliant communicator.”
— Frederica Mathewes-Green, “Author of At the Corner of East and Now and The Illumined Heart”?

“The story rolls along and carries us with it, hilarious and heart-breaking by turns, vivid and contemplative, and regularly touched with poetry. Eric Metaxas is a brilliant communicator.”
— Frederica Mathewes-Green, “Author of At the Corner of East and Now and The Illumined Heart”?

“A wonderful story wonderfully told. Eric Metaxas knows how to tell complex things simply, and serious things with lively wit. He is that rare and delightful being: a terrific writer with something important to say.”
— Andrew Klavan, international bestselling author, two-time Edgar Award winner

“A wonderful story wonderfully told. Eric Metaxas knows how to tell complex things simply, and serious things with lively wit. He is that rare and delightful being: a terrific writer with something important to say.”
— Andrew Klavan, international bestselling author, two-time Edgar Award winner

“This memoir of one of our best writer’s coming of age is a beautiful thing: deeply intelligent, spiritually acute, and laugh-out-loud funny.” — Bret Lott, bestselling author of fourteen books including Jewel, an Oprah Book Club selection

“This memoir of one of our best writer’s coming of age is a beautiful thing: deeply intelligent, spiritually acute, and laugh-out-loud funny.” — Bret Lott, bestselling author of fourteen books including Jewel, an Oprah Book Club selection

“...Fish Out of Water masterfully mixes a coming-of-age story with deeply introspective questions....This is what the world needs right now.”
— Western Journal

“...Fish Out of Water masterfully mixes a coming-of-age story with deeply introspective questions....This is what the world needs right now.”
— Western Journal

“Writing is an art form in its own right, every bit as admirable as painting, sculpture, theater and music, as Eric Metaxas ... so ably demonstrates [in Fish Out of Water], a memoir of his life that meticulously details ordinary and extraordinary personal events with charismatic finesse... deep insight and laugh-out-loud humor. [A] thoroughly delightful read, a top candidate for anyone’s summer (or even spring) reading list.”
— The Washington Times

“Writing is an art form in its own right, every bit as admirable as painting, sculpture, theater and music, as Eric Metaxas ... so ably demonstrates [in Fish Out of Water], a memoir of his life that meticulously details ordinary and extraordinary personal events with charismatic finesse... deep insight and laugh-out-loud humor. [A] thoroughly delightful read, a top candidate for anyone’s summer (or even spring) reading list.”
— The Washington Times

“A profoundly moving memoir.”
— Booklist (Starred Review)

“A profoundly moving memoir.”
— Booklist (Starred Review)

“...a narrative reminiscent of Saint Augustine’s Confessions, Metaxas delivers a warts-and-all exploration of his youth” — Kirkus

“...a narrative reminiscent of Saint Augustine’s Confessions, Metaxas delivers a warts-and-all exploration of his youth” — Kirkus

2020-11-18
The acclaimed biographer turns to memoir.

Metaxas, whose works include bestselling books about Martin Luther, William Wilberforce, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, narrates the story of his own life up to 1988, when he was 25. That year, when his true conversion to Christianity occurred, serves as a significant demarcation point in his journey. In a narrative reminiscent of Saint Augustine’s Confessions, Metaxas delivers a warts-and-all exploration of his youth—including discussions of elements of his early life on which he looks back with regret—in order to explain how his faith altered his trajectory. Like Augustine, Metaxas recounts his mostly secular intellectual development, which created a foundation for his later spiritual conversion and nourishment. Whereas Augustine stole pears from a tree because his friends were doing it, Metaxas ostracized another boy in his class because of a desire to fit in. “I think I would do almost anything to go back there now to try to undo what I did,” he writes, “to befriend him or show him some love or kindness.” While Augustine recounted how he lived with a concubine and had a child with her, Metaxas relates the story of a girlfriend’s abortion. Throughout, the author records his experiences in excruciating detail, creating a book that will be illuminating to his family, friends, and readers of his previous books but that will struggle to find a general reading audience. The most interesting sections involve the author’s Greek heritage, tales of a childhood spent in a Greek Orthodox church, and his on-and-off flirtations with faith. Some will be disappointed that the book ends at the most intriguing point—the author’s rather sudden conversion story, which would dramatically change the direction of his life and the purpose behind his work—but perhaps another volume is in the works.

An exhaustive cliffhanger for devoted Metaxas fans.