With another aching deep dive into human spirituality, Emily France mines her home state of Colorado in a novel of a teen girl's harrowing search for her missing younger sister-and her own search for self. Born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, Essence McKree feels older than any seventeen-year-old she knows. Ever since weed was legalized, Mom has been working in a pot shop, high more often than not. Lately it's been up to Essa to care for her nine-year-old sister, Puck. When Essa meets Oliver-a brainy indoor type, in town for the summer-she is cautious at first, distrustful of the tourist crowd and suspicious of Oliver's mysterious past in Chicago. But Puck is charmed and pushes Essa toward him. Soon Essa finds herself showing Oliver the Boulder she has forgotten: the mountain parties, the long hikes.and at Oliver's urging, the exploration of Buddhism at the local zendo. When Oliver agrees to accompany Essa on a three-day survival game in the Rocky Mountains, she feels a lightness she hasn't known in a long time. Then she discovers that Puck has stowed away and followed them into the wilderness. After spending a night stuck in a mountain storm, Essa wakes to find Puck missing. Now Essa must rely on her newfound spiritual strength if she is to save her sister's life, and ultimately her own.
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“A beautiful, gentle, contemplative story certain to both fascinate and educate readers about a new way of encountering the world and all the challenges within it.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“The romance, family dramas, and physical danger keep us turning the pages, but the generous embrace of the spiritual truly enriches this reading experience.”
— Washington Post“With a host of deftly drawn characters…Zen and Gone is a paean to the multicultural mountain mecca of Boulder.”
— BookPage“Offers a beginner’s lesson in Buddhist principles as they might actually be lived in a contemporary American setting.”
— Bulletin of the Center for Children’s BooksBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Emily France is a graduate of Brown University and is the critically acclaimed author of several books. Her young adult titles, Zen and Gone and Signs of You, were selected as a Washington Post Best Book of the Month and an Apple Books Best of the Month. Daughter Dalloway is her adult debut. Learn more at www.EmilyFranceBooks.com.
Amielynn Abellera, an Earphones Award-winning narrator, has worked at the Mark Taper Forum, Berkeley Repertory, San Jose Stage, Shakespeare Center of LA, MainStreet Theatre, Theatre @ Boston Court, Chalk Repertory, Artists at Play, LA Women’s Shakespeare, and Katselas Theatre Company. She received her MFA degree in acting from the University of Southern California and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association.