A childhood friend from the past convinces Amanda to explore a wilder side of herself. A bolder and more adventurous side that can free her from a troubled state of mind that has only gotten worse due to recent events. There’s only one problem, it involves finding a wild polar bear, and they aren’t very easy to find. There are no wild polar bears near her home in Seattle. As she journeys toward the mysterious high Arctic, where wild polar bears roam free, she begins to reflect more deeply on her life. In the Arctic, traveling through the rapidly warming home of polar bears, she begins to see how recent events in her life are intimately connected to the ground she walks on. She explores a wonderland of ice and snow that is lit by dancing lights in the sky. The hidden dangers, different culture, and the expansive landscape she finds herself in, combine to change how she views the world around her. Along with her guide, Lars, and his team of dogs, she discovers a secret about who we are that will change her life forever. As the meaning behind her search for a wild bear becomes more clear, she is confronted with a choice that will affect everyone she has ever known. Learn more at www.quietfreedom.net Peace writes in a simple yet elegant prose style , frequently mixing in facts and figures to keep the reader abreast of the situation's real-life stakes : "A single polar bear's natural territory can be hundreds of square miles....A typical zoo enclosure for a polar bear can be up to eighty million times smaller than a wild bear's home range." But these didactic flourishes , along with the meticulous documentation of Amanda's journey...sometimes make the work read more like a travel memoir than a fictional account ...Amanda's quest is compelling nevertheless: an adventure at the top of the world that feels relevant to the life of every reader -- and to the planet as a whole. -- Kirkus Reviews