To the Moon and Back

Born to “hippie” parents, immersed in the “flower child” lifestyle of the time—Kohn,author of the debut memoir, To the Moon and Back: A Childhood Under the Influence[Heliotrope Books, September 2018], shares her unique story. With a mixture of encountergroups and primal screams, macrobiotic diets, communes, Jefferson Airplane concerts in Central Park, and watching naked actors on off-Broadway stages– Kohn’s childhood was less than idyllic. By the time she turned ten, her mother joined the Unification Church—theMoonies—physically abandoning her and her brother, while emotionally and spiritually bringthem into the cult. Wholeheartedly embracing the Moonies, Kohn found the stringent, punishing rules by which they lived a safe haven to the chaos she knew.

In the 1970’s, the Unification Church was at the forefront of American culture, and Kohnwas at the epicenter of the Unification Church—best friends with Reverend Moon’s children and a frequent guest at his house, at his dining table, and in his pool. On weekdays, she lived in her father’s world of drugs, sex, and late-night bartending in the squalor of the East Village of New York. On weekends, Kohn escaped to a world she longed for—her mother’s—the fanatical, puritanical life of religious fervor.

Resonating on a multitude of levels, Lisa Kohn shares her story with a position of love and hope the harrowing journey of facing her fears, feeling her buried pain, and confronting the lies she had built up to feel—and to be—safe. Slowly, Kohn created a healthy adult life she always wanted but never knew existed.