In this picaresque memoir-a dark and divine comedy of family and faith-acclaimed novelist and nature writer, Brenda Peterson, embraces this earthly life while her relatives prepare fervently to leave it. As a "wild, rather odd, and unknowingly subversive child," she survives fierce "sword drill" competitions over total recall of the Scriptures and awkward dinner table questions-"Will Rapture take the cat, too?" Peterson paints such a hilarious and tender portrait that the reader, too, may want to be left behind. The memoir was selected by independent booksellers as a "Great Read" and an "Indie Next." Chosen as a "Top Ten Best Non-fiction Book of the Year" by Christian Science Monitor, I Want to Be Left Behind celebrates what the Los Angeles Times calls her "rich and often lovely life-full of humor and Peterson's own brand of faith.".