Between Worlds: An Expat Girl's Quest for Home

by Inga Aksamit

What happens when a child grows up between worlds, never fully belonging anywhere? In this compelling memoir, Inga Aksamit takes readers on a journey across four continents as she navigates life as the daughter of an international engineer during the turbulent 1960s and '70s.

From age four, when she nearly loses her mother on a Tokyo train platform, through harrowing military evacuations from Pakistan and Bangladesh, Inga's childhood is marked by constant change and adaptation. She attends nine schools before high school, learning to make friends quickly while knowing each goodbye might be permanent.

Through it all, she grapples with question of identity and belonging. Is home the place where her doll Chuz sits on her bed, or is it somewhere deeper within? How does a child process trauma when the adults around her treat upheaval as adventure? And how does that child grow into an adult capable of lasting relationships?

244 pages, Paperback

Published February 27, 2025

About the author

Inga Aksamit is an award-winning author, globe-trotting adventurer and veteran oncology nurse who writes about travel and human connection. Her love of exploration has taken her around the world to hike in remote mountain ranges, explore ancient ruins, and immerse herself in different cultures. She started traveling at age four when her family embraced the expat lifestyle and moved from the US to Asia for her father’s work. Her childhood experiences as a third-culture kid (TCK) in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Peru, and Indonesia, combined with her career in oncology nursing, allow her to see the world through a compassionate lens of wonder and discovery. Her memoir, “Between Worlds: An Expat Quest for Belonging,” will be published in 2024. Her hiking memoir, “Highs and Lows on the John Muir Trail,” won The Best Outdoor Book award from the Outdoor Writers Association of California in 2015 and “The Hungry Spork Trail Recipes” won the Best Outdoor Guidebook award in 2020.