Crossbearer : A Memoir of Faith

Joe Eszterhas knew a lot about darkness. Growing up in refugee camps and then in America's back alleys, he used this knowledge, first as a journalist, and then as a wildly successful screenwriter of sexually graphic and violent films like Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge, and Jade.

Then, on a hellishly hot day in 2001, desperately battling to survive throat cancer and his addictions to alcohol and cigarettes, Joe Eszterhas found God. Or God found him. And he came from darkness into light.

Crossbearer is the moving, and sometimes funny, story of a man who turned his back on the wild world he'd immersed himself in for far too long to embrace a new life full of faith, family and love. During his journey, Eszterhas discovers God in the most surprising places: a family game of baseball, a child's photograph of a cloud, a dying mother's dying roses. Through it all, he remains thoroughly himself—wearing a Rolling Stones T-shirt as he carried the cross down the church aisle—but becomes a better version of himself than he'd been before.

“Eszterhas writes with his fists. You practically duck as you turn the page...you won't be bored. And you may even be moved.” —Christopher Buckley, New York Times Book Review

“An extremely gifted writer…this story of penitent return is told simply and movingly…Joe Eszterhas has given us a contemporary story of the Prodigal Son.” —James Carroll, National Catholic Reporter

“Tells the story of his spiritual conversion and his newfound devotion to God and family,,,His new book is evidence of Mr. Eszterhas' victory.” —Toledo Blade

“Followers of provocative screenwriter (Basic Instinct, Flashdance, Showgirls) and author (Hollywood Animal, American Rhapsody) Eszterhas may do a double-take when they see his entertaining new memoir branded with a cross, and a triple-take when they see he means it... Eszterhas's journey is inspiring and his tough-guy sense of humor remains intact.” —Publishers Weekly

“It is fascinating to hear him wrestle with his decision to remain in the Catholic church...while the memoir is raw at times, it is never short of interesting anecdotes...he is a fantastic writer.” —www.challies.com