Don't judge a book by its title, says N.L. Conservative MP about her faith-based memoir
Carol Anstey, MP for Long Range Mountains, says publisher put 'Satan' in title of her book
The saying goes that "the devil is in the details," but in the case of a book written by newly-elected Conservative member of Parliament Carol Anstey, the devil is nowhere to be found.
Before entering politics, Anstey wrote a faith-based memoir with an attention-grabbing title — Called to His Purpose: Exposing Satan's Plan to Destroy Your Destiny.
Interestingly, Satan is not mentioned anywhere in the book.
Anstey, a born-again Christian, said her publisher recommended adding Satan to the title.
"That was something that the publisher thought might create some intrigue, and it certainly has," said Anstey, referring to the increased discussion about her book during the weeks of the federal election campaign.
"I think there was a lot of misunderstandings about what was actually in the subject matter, and I think that probably came from the tagline. And I think there was some negativity that was put out there as a result of it."
Anstey says her intention, when the book came out in 2019, was to share her personal journey to faith in God and how her beliefs have transformed her life.
Turning the page in Long Range Mountains
Anstey represents a riding in Western Newfoundland that covers a vast area from Burgeo in the southwest to St. Anthony in the north.
It's an area that's been part of various federal ridings through the years, but had been solidly held by the Liberals since the early 1980s.
Anstey beat out her Liberal opponent Don Bradshaw by 3,506 votes in the 2025 federal election, after losing to incumbent Gudie Hutchings in 2021 by 1,834 votes.
Before Anstey's run at politics, she was a realtor and was also involved in a Christian ministry with a friend who is a singer.
Together, they used to visit churches to share a message about their Christian faith. Anstey said people would ask if she had anything out in print form they could take home to read.
The book was the result of those expressions of interest, and Anstey said it came together over more than a year.
"It wasn't something that was flying off the shelves necessarily. Seems to be a little bit more interesting to people now," she said.
Story of her life
In her book, Anstey writes about her life before she believed in God, and how it changed after she decided the Christian faith was for her.
She writes about growing up in rural Newfoundland, and about living in Alberta when she was in her early 20s.
She describes herself at that time as a "snowboarding hippie living in the woods, having fun, and wasting her potential."
She writes about coming home to Newfoundland, and her life as a married woman, mother and entrepreneur.
In some ways, Anstey's book is partly a memoir and partly a self-help book, with the kind of advice you might find in the secular world about not dwelling on the negative, letting go of guilt from the past, and forgiving people who've wronged you.
The book doesn't touch on issues such as abortion or same-sex marriage because, she said, the book is about her and those aren't relevant to her own life experience.
"With respect to the other topics, just no relevance because, again, it's my own personal journey and really had nothing to do with the purpose of the book, or why I was writing the book," she said.
Anstey said the Conservative Party of Canada has been clear in its national policy handbook that it won't endorse any changes to abortion legislation, and Anstey said she has no agenda to ever change anything as far as the 2SLGBTQ+ community is concerned.
Not a sellout
Anstey said she doesn't regret writing the book, and has made no effort to hide the fact that she wrote it.
"There certainly wasn't any intention to try to cover it up at all. Not at all," she said.
Anstey said her faith comes through in her approach to her work only in the sense of serving her constituents.
"I believe that a journey in faith is really about servanthood and serving the people I represent in the Long Range Mountains riding," said Anstey. "That's really what having faith in your life is really about."
Anstey's book is available through Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries, but no longer available for purchase.
She said only about 2,500 copies were printed in total, and they didn't all sell, so there was no need to print more.
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