In 1968, I was a sixteen-year-old girl with three passions: writing, my boyfriend, and sex. So… I started a diary, got married, and had a baby. Now, in 2025, I am a seventy-three-year-old woman with three passions: writing, my family, and, well… It's time to tell my story... As a teenager, Dawn had everything she wanted in suburban Toronto—good grades, proud parents, and a passionate romance with an ambitious young artist. But when her father's affair shattered her family and her mother warned "you can't trust men," her world turned upside down. In an act of rebellion, Dawn married her boyfriend and became a young mother. Together, with their young son, they ran away to Pushthrough, an abandoned Newfoundland outport with no roads, no electricity, no neighbours, and no escape. "A gripping story of courage and new beginnings that whisks you to the rugged shores of 1970's Newfoundland – so vivid and intimate, you'll forget you weren't really there." —Tina Hagmann, author of When Atlantis Calls This is the raw, unfiltered true story of one young mother's struggle to confront love, isolation, and self-reliance in one of Canada's most remote wilderness areas. Battling brutal weather and near-death adventures, she spiralled toward breakdown—until an unexpected moment of redemption changed everything. Perfect for readers of Wild , Educated , and The Glass Castle —this inspiring coming-of-age memoir about choosing between love and identity is the unforgettable first book in the Journey Trilogy: From Sea to Sand to Snow . "Right up there with 'The Joy Luck Club' by Amy Tan, this book should be read by all young women." -Amazon Reviewer "An incredible, well written memoir of life in a brutal, isolated environment that is impossible to put down!" -Amazon Reviewer "What a page-turner! I would wake up during the night and 'need' to read another chapter." -Reader "Raw, moving, and unforgettable... A powerful testament to the strength and resilience of Dawn Neill." -Reader "This could make a great true life movie!" -Amazon Reviewer Dawn Neill is a memoirist and retired international educator whose teaching career spanned three decades across Mexico, the Middle East, and Canada's Arctic. After earning her teaching degree from the University of Toronto - an achievement completed over ten years while raising three children as a single parent - she embarked on a journey that would take her from small-town Ontario to the far corners of the world.Throughout her travels, Neill maintained detailed journals chronicling not only the diverse cultures she encountered but also her personal transformations. Her debut memoir "Rescued," published in July 2025, tells the story of her first great adventure: four years of isolation in an abandoned outport on Newfoundland's Forgotten Coast as a young mother in the early 1970s.This memoir is the first in her "Journeys Trilogy", which follows her life from sea to sand to snow. Today, Neill writes from her home on the shores of Lake Simcoe, Ontario, where she lives with her partner, Walter Beck, and continues to draw inspiration from her now-grown children, whose own adventures on tall ships encouraged her to chase her dreams.