Holy Ghost Girl Audiobook By Donna M. Johnson cover art

Holy Ghost Girl

A Memoir

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Holy Ghost Girl

By: Donna M. Johnson
Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.16

Buy for $17.16

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

A compassionate, humorous story of faith, betrayal, and coming of age on the sawdust trail.

She was just three years old when her mother signed on as the organist of tent revivalist David Terrell, and before long, Donna Johnson was part of the hugely popular evangelical preacher’s inner circle. At seventeen, she left the ministry for good, with a trove of stranger-than-fiction memories. A homecoming like no other, Holy Ghost Girl brings to life miracles, exorcisms, and faceoffs with the Ku Klux Klan - and that’s just what went on under the tent.

As Terrell became known worldwide during the 1960s and ’70s, the caravan of brokendown cars and trucks that made up his ministry evolved into fleets of Mercedes and airplanes. The glories of the Word mixed with betrayals of the flesh, and Donna’s mother bore Terrell’s children in one of several secret households he maintained. Thousands of followers, dubbed “Terrellites” by the press, left their homes to await the end of the world in cultlike communities. Jesus didn’t show, but the IRS did, and the prophet-healer went to prison.

Recounted with deadpan observations and surreal detail, Holy Ghost Girl bypasses easy judgment to articulate a rich world where the mystery of faith and human frailty share a surprising and humorous coexistence.

Donna Johnson has written about religion for the Dallas Morning News and the Austin American Statesman. She won the Mayborn Creative Nonfiction Prize for Manuscript in Progress in 2007 for Holy Ghost Girl.

©2011 Donna Johnson (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Christianity Dysfunctional Families Dysfunctional Relationships Evangelism Ministry & Evangelism Parenting & Families Relationships Religious Memoir Witty

Critic reviews

“What a life!…Donna Johnson sorts through her story with great insight, compassion, and humor.” (Jeannette Walls, New York Times best-selling author of The Glass Castle)
Authentic Memoir • Exceptional Writing • Excellent Characterization • Captivating Storytelling • Emotional Depth
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Outstanding book, objective as she could possibly be. For an ex-Christian, this book helped me voice a lot of things I struggled with as a child.

Read it four times

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
loved it! i love the humor in it. Only thing is wanted to know more details about what happened to individuals at the end.

loved the humor elements.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A story that will stay with you. This true story pulled me in and kept me hooked. It does a great job of showing you the inside of the traveling revival world, the personalities and motivations, the complexity. The story is told with honesty and compassion. Although much damage was done along the way, especially to the kids involved , the story ends with the families coming together with love and forgiveness.

Facinating, compassionate and compelling.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
As I sit here bawling through the last chapter I decided I had to leave a review. This was an “I’m just looking for something to read” selection. I quickly was engaged by the Holy Ghost Girl narrator’s story made even more vivid by the wonderful narrator. While the writing is exceptional, I have to believe I was more enchanted by listen to this wonderful performance than if I simply read it. Unusual topic? Pentecostal history? Revivals, healings and tents? DO NOT let any of that put you off reading this book. 5 stars!

An intriguing memoir with a dash of Pentecostal history.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book gives one the behind the scenes look at the religious tent events. This one Minister seems authentic in his healing powers but a zealous none the less.
It brings to mind the quote "Do as I say, not as I do". The minister can sin by their own interpretation of the bible as justification but no one else can by doing the same. It is the children of the staff that suffer. The "Holy Ghost Child" gives brilliant insight into the life of a child who suffered through the Evangelist Tent Services.

Interesting....

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book brought back memories because I too grew up in the same world the writer did. Perhaps we may have met by chance in one of the tent services. I knew David Terrell and many of the other characters such as Sister Waters and Preacher Woman. I love to say this was all made up but truth be told and it was and sometimes worse. But the truth is that many were as blind as her mother and many of the followers.

Holy Ghost Girl

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Kept my interest and quickly listened to this Audible story. Sad how so many children get caught up in stupid choices of their parents. Donna was lucky that she saw the light.

Crazy Interesting Story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I have recommended it.
Anyone who knows me well, knows I can totally relate to so many things in this book!

What did you like best about this story?

Everything

What does Carrington MacDuffie bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I listen to a lot of audiobooks while working. I have heard her narrate before, very nice.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Her "holy ghost" receiving experience :) cracked me up! Been there!

Any additional comments?

Great book! Great portrayal of the life and times of tent revivals!

Fantastic! Loved it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This audio book will captivate you. Whether you are laughing or cringing, the author’s matter-of-fact account of her life is spellbinding. The narrator gives a perfect reading.

You won’t regret listening

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Enjoyed the twists and turns and emotional edge of the book. Stirs questions and provokes thinking about revivalism. Honest, not harsh.

Good Story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews