In this narrative nonfiction novel, Emilee Mae shares the near-death experience of falling 70 feet out of a large pine tree in Northern Minnesota, and miraculously surviving. She begins her travels around the world seeking a deeper purpose to life, starting in Peru with a group of missionaries, ex-drug dealers, a men’s recovery home, and remote villages.

Upon entering college, she falls into her first serious bout of depression, and decides to remove herself from the emptiness of college life and move to South Africa to volunteer with a grassroots organization working to break one village's cycle of poverty.

Her stories thereafter weave in the major themes of any young person in their twenties searching for belonging, peace after break-ups, solace from societal pressures, and many more travels including Idaho working with at-risk youth in wilderness therapy, Tanzania working with underprivileged youth, and finally Greece for nothing more than cheese, wine, and crystal seas.

Her story does not shy away from mental health issues or personal struggles to find safety in a world that’s shifting and washed with chaos from coast to coast. This book is for anyone desiring to speak their own truth, as she seeks to speak hers.

Publisher: RiverPlace Press, Minnesota

In collaboration with the Five Wings Arts Council.