about Kim
Kim Pippa Tonnesen is a tenured English professor, memoirist, and professional wrangler of wayward sentences. Author of Dad, Mom, Jehovah, and Me, she holds a Master’s degree in English with an emphasis in Rhetoric and Teaching Composition. She brings this background to her role as educator at Columbia College, where she mentors students through the beautiful chaos of learning to write.
Pippa spends her days grading essays and convincing commas to stay where they belong—all from her home in the California foothills, where she lives with her family and two dogs. Whether crafting her own narratives or helping students discover theirs, she believes every story deserves a chance to come to life--preferably with a strong cup of tea and canine company nearby.
Dad, Mom, Jehovah, and Me
Raised in a close-knit Jehovah’s Witness family, Kim’s childhood is fractured by the onset of her mother’s chronic illness and is followed, five years later, by her father’s death. Unable to grasp her deep loss or push beyond her narrow worldview, Kim stays close within the confines of the church.
Not until early adulthood, when Kim endures a difficult marriage, does she begin to question the boundaries set by her religion. Hesitantly at first, but with growing determination, she, with the help of extraordinary friends outside the faith, opens herself to new ways of being in the world. In doing so, she leaves her husband and the church and comes to terms with her long-buried grief.
Dad, Mom, Jehovah, and Me chronicles Kim’s journey on a convoluted path out of the fold of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Reviews
"This is the kind of book that once you start, you can’t put down. Pippa’s memoir on growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness recounts in honest, moving detail what happens to a child when her family suffers deep trauma, not once, but twice. Her relatives surround her with love, and initially, her religion provides the structure she needs to survive her childhood. Her first marriage, however, starts to erode her belief system, and the outside world penetrates enough that she begins to question her faith. This is a unique coming of age story that shows how a child grows into a curious, courageous adult and finds her place in the world."
SALLY MCCLELLAN
Author: Dear Sven: a Novel in Letters; The Waitress's Dream & Other Tales of Unlikely Healing; Grace's Instinct: Poems
Listen to Kim's interview on The Local Scribe
"After a scant ten years of work, Kim Pippa Tonnesen has finished her memoir Dad, Mom, Jehovah, and Me, a gripping tale of growing up as a Jehovah's Witness, facing the loss of both parents at a young age and navigating a crisis of faith that resulted in her leaving the religion."