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Charlene L. Edge

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Charlene L. Edge

Goodreads Author


Born
The United States
Website

Genre

Influences
Annie Dillard, J. R. Moehringer, Eudora Welty, Brenda Ueland, Michael ...more

Member Since
April 2012

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Updated May 5, 2026

Charlene Edge is the author of two books. The award-winning memoir:
Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International (2017), and From the Porch to the Page: A Guidebook for the Writing Life (2022).
Both books are available in paperback and ebook from major booksellers and indie bookstores.

Charlene spent seventeen years as a leader in the Bible-based cult, The Way International (1970–1987).

View her YouTube video presentation "A Cult Insider's Story" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77Ooz...

After she escaped The Way headquarters in 1987, she earned a B.A. in English from Rollins College in 1994 and became a published a poet and prose writer. She worked for more than a decade as a techni
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Charlene L. Edge Dear Carol,
Thank you for your message and for appreciating my work. While I can sympathize with what must have been a challenging journey out of a TWI…more
Dear Carol,
Thank you for your message and for appreciating my work. While I can sympathize with what must have been a challenging journey out of a TWI splinter group, I'm retired now from accepting emails or calls about The Way or its offshoots.
Be assured I wish you and your son the best on your paths to recovery.
Thanks for your understanding.
Sincerely,
Charlene Edge(less)
Charlene L. Edge Since I believe writer's block is just fear and anxiety ("just" is an understatement on some days), I nudge myself into a chair, pick up a pen or set …moreSince I believe writer's block is just fear and anxiety ("just" is an understatement on some days), I nudge myself into a chair, pick up a pen or set my fingers on the keyboard, and write what's on my mind, then go from there.(less)
Average rating: 4.19 · 106 ratings · 17 reviews · 1 distinct workSimilar authors
Undertow: My Escape from th...

4.19 avg rating — 106 ratings2 editions
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News 2021

Hello readers!
I'm writing to let you know that Undertow is reaching readers around the world thanks to the distribution channels of Ingram Spark. That's the self-publishing company I used for Undertow.

If you want to hear more from me, I invite you to visit my website and subscribe to my own blog. On that blog I write about writing, cults, travel and all sorts of things.
Visit: https://charleneedg Read more of this blog post »
1 like ·   •  1 comment  •  flag
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Published on April 11, 2021 09:18 Tags: blogs, my-website, writing
The Innocents Abr...
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Charlene’s Recent Updates

Charlene Edge entered a giveaway
Joyride by Susan Orlean
Joyride: A Memoir
by Susan Orlean (Goodreads Author)
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Quotes by Charlene L. Edge  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“In the beginning, I only wanted to know, love, and serve God and understand the Bible. What harm could that possibly bring?”
Charlene L. Edge, Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”
Gustave Flaubert

“In Senegal, the polite expression for saying someone died is to say his or her library has burned. When I first heard the phrase, I didn’t understand it, but over time I came to realize it was perfect. Our minds and souls contain volumes inscribed by our experiences and emotions; each individual’s consciousness is a collection of memories we’ve cataloged and stored inside us, a private library of a life lived.”
Susan Orlean, The Library Book

“Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.”
Arthur Ashe

“The great thing is to last and get your work done and see and hear and learn and understand; and write when there is something that you know; and not before, and not too damned much after.”
Ernest Hemingway

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