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Rescued: A Young Mother's Memoir of Survival on Newfoundland's Forgotten Coast
In 1968, I was a sixteen-year-old girl with three 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 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 From Sea to Sand to Snow.
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 From Sea to Sand to Snow.
435 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 4, 2025
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October 15, 2025
Dawn E. Neill’s Rescued is a breathtaking act of courage both in life and on the page. With the clarity of hindsight and the vulnerability of truth, she revisits her sixteen-year-old self: a girl who traded the noise of suburban Toronto for the silence of a forgotten Newfoundland coast. What unfolds is not just a story of survival in the wilderness, but of emotional endurance of a young woman learning what love, identity, and strength truly mean when every comfort is stripped away.
Neill’s prose is alive with sensory detail the sting of sea wind, the isolation of Pushthrough, the heartbeat of motherhood in impossible conditions. Yet beneath the physical struggle lies something even more profound: a search for self amid the wreckage of family expectations and youthful rebellion. Readers of Educated, The Glass Castle, and Wild will recognize the same fearless introspection here, but Rescued carries a unique tenderness the rare kind that can only come from living to tell the story.
It’s not just a memoir; it’s a testament to resilience, the beauty of hard-won wisdom, and the quiet triumph of choosing oneself.
Neill’s prose is alive with sensory detail the sting of sea wind, the isolation of Pushthrough, the heartbeat of motherhood in impossible conditions. Yet beneath the physical struggle lies something even more profound: a search for self amid the wreckage of family expectations and youthful rebellion. Readers of Educated, The Glass Castle, and Wild will recognize the same fearless introspection here, but Rescued carries a unique tenderness the rare kind that can only come from living to tell the story.
It’s not just a memoir; it’s a testament to resilience, the beauty of hard-won wisdom, and the quiet triumph of choosing oneself.
Displaying 1 of 1 review