Excommunicated: A multigenerational story of leaving the Exclusive Brethren
Author:
Craig Hoyle
Publisher:
HarperCollins NZ
ISBN:
9781775542018
Date published:
01 November 2023
Pages:
336
Format:
Paperback
RRP:
$39.99
A heart-wrenching multigenerational family memoir by an excommunicated member of the Exclusive Brethren
After coming out as gay, Craig Hoyle was excommunicated from the New Zealand Exclusive Brethren and forced to say goodbye to his family forever. The conservative sect was everything he'd ever known - a childhood where television, pop music, sports and even pets were against the rules.
Joining public society - the 'worldlies' - for the first time, Craig sets out to meet his grandfather who was excommunicated in the 1980s and, using his diaries and letters, uncovers two centuries and seven generations of the family's tangled and often cruel relationship with the Brethren.
Weaving their past with Craig's own upbringing in this secretive and oppressive religious group, Excommunicated charts the evolution of the Exclusive Brethren in New Zealand and the heartwrenching stories of a family torn apart.
About the author:
Craig Hoyle grew up in Invercargill within the New Zealand Exclusive Brethren. Separated from public society, he attended Brethren-only schooling and worked in his family's tyre shop. After facing interrogations and conversion therapy for his sexuality, he was excommunicated from the Brethren and lost his family in 2009. Today he is a news director for the Sunday Star-Times. He has worked for newsrooms such as TV3 and RadioLive, and behind the scenes on current affairs shows including 60 Minutes and 3rd Degree. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
