WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE LIFE YOU’RE LIVING ISN’T THE LIFE YOU TRULY WANT?

Tessa Williams seems to have her life together. At twenty-five, she’s an American medical student on a two-month rotation in Botswana, Africa, fulfilling her father’s dreams of becoming a doctor. But beneath the surface, Tessa’s barely holding on. Still reeling from an abusive relationship and overwhelmed by the relentless suffering she sees in the hospital, she feels trapped in a life she didn’t choose. A weekend escape to Impodimo Safari Lodge offers her a glimpse of something different. Captivated by elephants in the wild and the untamed beauty of the savanna, Tessa begins to wonder what it would mean to break free of her cage.

Corey Diallo, a twenty-nine-year-old South African safari guide, has spent the past five years in the wilderness, far from the loss that tore his life apart. He’s mastered the art of burying his feelings, keeping himself anchored in his love of the bush. But with Tessa’s arrival, a crack forms in the fortress he’s built, forcing him to face the grief he’s long ignored.

As their connection deepens, Tessa and Corey find solace in each other’s scars. But their time together is fleeting. With Tessa’s departure looming, they’re left to ask: Can two broken lives fit together? What does it take to create a life you truly love? And what if the cost of such a life is just too high?

Told over twelve years and two continents, this moving novel explores the complex role mental health, grief and intergenerational trauma play in forging our life path.

It’s a novel that asks: how do we let go of others’ expectations, to build the life we truly want?

Not the one we’re supposed to want.

Or the one others planned for us.

Or the one that looks good.

But the one, uniquely, wildly and solely, ours.

Because, sometimes…it takes being far from home to finally come home to yourself.