North of Normal: A Memoir of My Wilderness Childhood, My Counterculture Family, and How I Survived Both

“North of Normal contains so many jaw-dropping scenes it makes Jeannette Walls’ childhood (The Glass Castle) look almost conventional.” —Toronto Star

In the late 1960s, Cea’s grandfather uproots his family from suburban California and moves them to the Canadian wilderness. Cea spends the first decade of her life living in a canvas tipi, surviving fierce storms, food shortages and adults more interested in their own desires than parenting a child. Knowing no other world, Cea is happy enough. But her mother is missing one crucial element: a man. When she strikes out to look for love, spinning from one boyfriend to the next, Cea is forced along for the ride—and into a harsh awakening.

Shocking and heartbreaking, yet often funny, North of Normal is the story of a woman’s desire to find her normal—no matter what it takes. Cea’s journey of self-discovery and acceptance celebrates the strength we all carry within us to shape our destiny.

“Warmly told with a strong, clear and funny voice, peppered with dramatic action, and full of quirky characters.” - National Post

“North of Normal contains so many jaw-dropping scenes it makes Jeannette Walls’ childhood (The Glass Castle) look almost conventional.” - Toronto Star

“Her account of this Alice-in-Wonderland life is rendered with . . . grace, and without self-pity.” - Elle Canada