North of Normal (U)

Trade Paperback- Used

Non Fiction, Biography

The true story of one girl’s escape from the wilds of the counterculture movement . . . In the late 1960s, Cea Sunrise Person’s family left a comfortable existence in California to live off the grid in Canada’s idyllic wilderness. Led by Cea’s eccentric grandfather, they called a canvas teepee home, grew pot, and hunted and gathered to survive, weathering fierce storms and food shortages. In this world there were no social security numbers, no roots and no rules. One day, Cea’s mother and her new boyfriend hit the road, taking Cea with them. As the trio set upon a series of ill-gated attempts to find a stable home, things began to unravel. Her drug-fuelled, promiscuous young mother exposed Cea to new threats and fears as they drifted- hitchhiking, squatting and stealing to get by. Beginning to question the life she’d been born into, Cea realised she would have to make a choice- follow in the path of her mother or escape the counterculture for good. Barely a teenager, she set off to pursue a career in modelling, searching for a means to achieve the normal life she craved. From nature child to international model by the age of thirteen, Cea’s astonishing story is one of extreme family dysfunction and ultimate triumph. Told with remarkable candour and emotional intensity, North of Normal is a coming-of-age story like no other, and a book for anyone who has ever longed for something better. ‘With North of Normal, Cea Person gives us an unforgettable memoir of a turbulent wilderness childhood. Person writes about her harrowing, on-the-edge existence and dysfunctional family with unflinching detail and a generosity of spirit reminiscent of New York Times bestseller Jeanette Walls’s The Glass Castle. What emerges is an equally awe-inspiring true story of one young woman’s incredible determination to escape her terrible and traumatic circumstances, and triumph against all odds to create a happy, successful life.’ Carol Shaben, author of Into the Abyss