Hiding Out

Tina Alexis Allen is the youngest of thirteen children brought up by a saintly mother and a strict Catholic father in the 1980s suburbs of Maryland. Her father, Sir John, was a formidable, charming, British-born man with the distinct honor of being knighted by the Pope. He ran a successful travel agency that catered to tours of the Holy Land and the Vatican that embodied the values of a good Catholic family. Unlike her devout father, Tina was a smart-mouthed high school basketball prodigy who kept her lesbian identity a secret from her family. When her father discovered her secret at age eighteen, he shocked her with his response: he, too, was gay. Sir John became a confidante for Allen, and her to him, but what began as a tender moment of trust and truth quickly spiraled out of control. Together, Allen and her father made pilgrimages to gay discos, experimented with drugs, and engaged in sex with their respective partners in public places, keeping their family in the dark all the while. Outside of their wild escapades, Sir John invited Allen to be his heir apparent at the travel agency. Under his wing, Allen grew suspicious of his frequent business trips, his multiple passports, briefcases of cash, and cache of illegal documents, and uncovered the stunning double-life of the father she thought she knew, secrets and all. Secrets of a Holy Father is the unbelievable true story of self-discovery, family, secrets, and the power of the truth.