As we get older, we grow these shells around our hearts and minds, shells which young people don't have yet. If only we could keep that openness all our lives, that belief the world is shot through with blazing stars. Laurie Gough is heading west across the USA in a beaten-up old car named Marcia, hoping this is a homecoming to the land of her dreams. Back in her early twenties, she stayed in a cave on a California beach for six days and found purpose in her life while listening to waves in the moonlight. The trouble is, she's lost the enthusiasm she had back then. As she makes her way slowly across the country, meeting a colourful variety of hitchhikers and mechanics and waltresses, she recalls the adventures she's had in different places around the world - Sumatra, the Yukon, Korea, Thailand, Greece and Jamaica - trying to discover where she lost her younger, more free-spirited self. As she closes in on her destination, she peels back the layers of cynicism that life built up around her, and finds that our old selves may be inside us, if we only bother to look.

Releasing into our Bookcrossing Geocache. Enjoy!