This is such a heart wrenching and thought provoking story. As the mother of 2 transgender sons I applaud her bravery in telling her story.

This book was pretty good, but not a favourite of mine. The first section of the book, which was about Chrissie’s childhood, when she was known as Paul, was very interesting and gave a good amount of insight into the struggle children with gender dysphoria face. The middle section was long and at times too detailed. It followed Chrissie’s struggle with mental health and addiction, as well as her travel and relationships in her twenties. I was not overly interested in the deeply religious second half of the book, through I did find it interesting to see how someone who is transgender experiences religious rejection. The author often jumped around a lot with minimal context, especially when describing acquaintances and friends. I felt as though I was supposed to know who some of these people were but I didn’t remember them previously being mentioned. Finally, excerpts or letters from Chrissie’s wife were included throughout the second half of the story and while I think that was a reasonable choice on the part of the author, I think some things could have been described by Chrissie rather than her wife. The style just didn’t quite meet my expectations and at time I had a hard time sticking with reading this story but I did appreciate how vulnerable Chrissie had to be in sharing such a painful journey. Finally, the work being done by Chrissie and other members of the Trans and LGBTQ community to support each other, part of which includes the writing of own voices stories, is commendable and deserves the full spotlight awarded to any other author or story. I very much appreciate the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this memoir through Netgalley and the publisher. It is definitely worth a read

I appreciate the authors bravery in sharing her story. It is heartfelt and thought provoking. As our country makes laws and policies that shut people out I think it is important to hear the stories of the actual people that are being shut out. I hope this story will change many hearts and minds. Thanks for telling your story Chrissie!

Heaven Come Down is the stunningly powerful testimony of someone growing up with severe dysmorphia and gender dysphoria, in a broken dysfunctional family, and their discovery of hope, love, and faith through the healing power of God. Chrissie Chevasutt’s tumultuous journey has taken her through drug addiction, prostitution, and begging on the streets of India, before being led to the feet of Jesus. It is a story of hope for anyone who has or is suffering from addictions, suicidal ideation, homelessness, mental illness, and the crisis of sexual or gender identity conflict, and seeks to build bridges in places where the Church and the transgender community have been divided.
Well worth a read

I can compare 'Heaven Come Down: The Story of a Transgender Disciple' by Chrissie Chevasutt to a knife that leaves a feeling of uneasiness, a sort of temptation to use it, and cuts deep into emotions when applied to a heart. It's a book that needs to be read in paperback so that one could highlight and highlight and highlight whole paragraphs and standalone expressions in the minutes of thoughtfulness - and return to them in the moments of despair. The author's soul lies bare, vulnerable, raw, with oozing pain, shame, and above all, love for everybody to judge. The book was born in a place where poetry most devastatingly clashes with reality.

In the book, Chrissie Chevasutt tells a story of her life as if under a magnifying glass: hitting rock bottom (figurately) and climbing up the mountains (literally), loving and hurting, losing and winning. Every nuance is so meticulously depicted that sometimes a reader wonders if the book isn't psychological research of the world's brokenness. Out of guilt and shame, uncertainty, and crucifixion of the deeper inner self came out love, kindness, acceptance, compassion, and will to fight for what is right.

To explain what the church does to people, Chrissie Chevasutt coins the term spiritual abuse meaning ex-communication, due to the blind authoritarianism and detachment of the clergy from the people they are supposed to help. The ideal church should be more of an extended family, supporting and caring, especially toward those who feel different. The author's journey is a shining example of how the church doesn't want to accept LGBTQIA people into its ranks out of pride and ignorance, rejecting them even before getting acquainted with what it means to be transgender. The rejection by families, friends, and communities leads many to suicide, suicide ideation, and self-harm. By talking so honestly, the author wants to pave a safer path for transgender youth and offer assistance in dealing with the consequences of coming out.

Let her works speak for themselves:
We do not become suicidal because we are trans, we cannot help being who we are. We become suicidal, because we are rejected and shamed, by our own families, by our communities, by society, and, perhaps, worst of all, by the church.

This book highly deserves a place on a bookshelf, maybe, beside the Bible.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Quotes may be a subject of change upon official publication.

“Heaven Come Down: The Story of a Transgender Disciple” (2021) is an absorbing coming-of-age and coming out memoir written by British author LGBTQ advocate Chrissie Chevasutt. The book begins in a rural remote hamlet in the Chiltern Hills, to the “Hidden Kingdom” of India and the Himalaya Mountains (1981) and back to the U.K. where the author and his new wife Pam became involved in various Christian ministry programs over the years beginning in the 1990’s.

The author’s lack of education may have caused a low self-awareness of being a transgender person. Chevasutt’s loving single father with limited resources, provided for young children after being deserted by their mother. Later, she returned with a new boyfriend, and caused a great deal of conflict before divorcing their father.
As a young man, after discontinuing bicycle racing, the author was unable to hold gainful employment, continue his education, pay his taxes etc. As he sought ways to quell his anxiety and depression, he sold his belongings, and traveled to India. The storyline features some very good travel like writing of the land, culture, cities, customs etc. In India, openly smoking opium was very common in a country of mass over population, the brutality of wide spread poverty, social injustice, crime, illness, disease and death, especially in the larger cities.

After being rescued in India by Peace Corps workers, near death, unable to fill out basic paperwork, Chevasutt was returned to the U.K. As he recovered, he began to study the gospels from a pocket Bible donated from the Gideon Bible Society. He attended several churches and became affiliated with YWHM-- a Christian organization based in Scotland. Over the years he was discouraged by organized religion that favored theology related to rules of rigid hierarchy and leadership of church politics, patriarchy, and intolerance of LGBTQ people. He and Pam helped alcoholics and addicts the church shunned by banning them from their worship services. An interesting part of the book was learning about gender dysphoria through counseling at a gender related health clinic. He and Pam would need make serious decisions as to how they would evaluate their marriage, role as parents, also spirituality in relation to their faith-based service to the Christian church. (3*GOOD) **With thanks to Durton Longman Todd Ltd. via NetGalley for the DDC for the purpose of review.

Trigger warning: there is a statement near the end of the book regarding antidepressants: "I did not need to take drugs to numb my pain!".
Heaven Come Down by Chrissie Chevasutt is a heartwretching story of her life and how she finally comes to accept herself. The book is amazingly detailed in some ways and a little bit vague in others. At times I felt like I was there with her and could experience her surroundings. I really enjoyed learning some of the history of different churches, in the UK as well as the different cultures that are highlighted in the book.. There is a lot of repetition throughout the book which waa a bit of a challenge for me. It certainly held my interest, though.. I was also confused about why antidepressants were brought up unless it was to highlight others' ignorance about how psychotropics really work. This is a good book for those who want to glean some understanding about those in the transgender community.