Alexandra Hullquist’s “Finding Katie” Is a Memoir That Heals, Uplifts, and Confronts the Unspoken

In a world where vulnerability is often seen as weakness, Alexandra Hullquist, writing under the pen name Alix Wiebe, has written a memoir that does the opposite. Finding Katie: Lost and Found in Plain Sight is not just a recounting of her life; it’s a brave, beautifully written offering of her pain, faith, and growth to the countless others still trying to find their way through trauma. The book isn’t about self-pity or blame. It’s about reclaiming your identity—and your voice—when both feel stolen.

Alexandra was born into what many would consider a perfect life. Raised in a devout Christian household with physician parents, she lived in exotic locations like Papua New Guinea and Puerto Rico, where her early childhood was filled with adventure, love, and the simplicity of faith. “I knew my parents loved me. I knew God loved me. Life was good,” she reflects. But the picture-perfect upbringing was complicated by experiences that many children endure in silence.

At the age of eight, Alexandra was molested by neighborhood children; a violation she didn’t understand at the time but that left deep, invisible scars. As puberty approached, those early wounds erupted into body shame, anorexia, bulimia, and a twisted relationship with her own femininity and faith. Her belief in a loving God clashed with the burden of trying to be “perfect” in a world that increasingly felt unsafe.

“I had an overly active conscience,” she said in a recent interview. “I believed I had to be perfect, that I had to earn God’s love. It wasn’t until much later that I realized how damaging that was.” Her memoir captures this inner battle vividly. She writes of a life that moved between cultures, expectations, and relationships, always with the quiet hum of not feeling enough.

But Finding Katie isn’t a story about staying broken. It’s about doing the painful, holy work of healing.

Writing became a key part of that journey. The decision to publish her story didn’t come easily. “At first, I wanted to write a novel inspired by my life. But I realized I needed to write the truth. I didn’t want to make up characters—I wanted to understand my own story.” That clarity gave birth to Finding Katie, a book that is part memoir, part spiritual declaration, and entirely honest.

The memoir traces her journey through abusive relationships, religious legalism, and internalized shame, leading up to a life-changing transformation marked by grace and acceptance. The chapter structure reads like a roadmap: from “The Early Years” to “Years of Wandering” to “New Beginnings.” Each section builds on the last, not in a linear arc of triumph, but in a layered exploration of what it means to get lost and fight your way back.

“I think people don’t set out to lose themselves,” she says. “It just happens—slowly, through a thousand little compromises and traumas. And then one day you wake up and realize you have no idea who you are.”

That’s where Finding Katie offers its deepest impact. It’s not prescriptive. It doesn’t offer five-step formulas. Instead, it offers something rarer: permission to question, to grieve, to hope. Alexandra doesn’t present herself as the hero of the story. She presents herself as someone who has finally allowed herself to be found.

Faith is woven through every chapter, not as a sermon, but as the backbone of her survival. Her relationship with God is complicated, like many survivors of trauma. She writes of feeling abandoned, angry, and confused, but never fully letting go. “Sometimes I was mad at God,” she admits. “I couldn’t live up to what I thought He wanted from me. But over time, I realized God wasn’t asking me to be perfect. He was asking me to come back.”

The book also highlights the critical role of relationships in healing. Alexandra credits her second husband as a major influence on her ability to accept her body and feel worthy of love again. “We need each other. We’re not meant to do this alone.”

What makes Finding Katie so powerful is how specific and universal it is at once. Her story involves details unique to her life—missionary travel, early education, music, marriage—but the emotional truth behind it resonates widely: the loss of self, the struggle to belong, the yearning to be seen and loved for who we are.

Now, Alexandra is working on a second book titled Honestly: A Recovering Addict’s Search for Integrity, Freedom, and Belonging in a Religious Context. Like her first, it will center around themes of faith, identity, and the lifelong work of healing. “I just want to help people who are hurting,” she says. “This isn’t about me. It’s about reaching the people who think they’re too far gone.”

At its core, Alexandra Hullquist’s memoir is evidence, not just of faith or survival, but of the quiet, stubborn resilience of the human spirit. In sharing her truth, she’s not just finding Katie. She’s helping others find themselves.