Rescued: A Young Mother's Memoir of Survival on Newfoundland's Forgotten Coast

by Dawn E. Neill

At sixteen, Dawn felt invincible with 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 her "you can't trust men," her world turned upside down. In an act of rebellion that would change everything, Dawn married her artist boyfriend and followed him with their young son to Pushthrough—an abandoned Newfoundland outport with no roads, no electricity, no neighbours, and no escape. Drawing from fifty-year-old diary entries, this gripping memoir chronicles Dawn's four-year struggle for survival in a beautiful yet harsh wilderness where love, motherhood, and survival collided in ways she never imagined. As she battled isolation, brutal weather, and near-death adventures, she spiralled toward breakdown until an unexpected moment of redemption changed everything. More than physical survival, "Rescued" is an inspiring coming-of-age story about choosing between love and identity—the first book in her "Journey From Sea to Sand to Snow."

376 pages, Paperback

Published July 11, 2025

Reviews

[ATLANTIC BOOK REVIEWS · Rating 5 out of 5]

RESCUED: A YOUNG MOTHER’S MEMOIR OF SURVIVAL ON NEWFOUNDLAND’S FORGOTTEN COAST by Dawn E. Neill.

This book will forever be a unique read for me. Harrowing and unforgettable this book speaks to the author’s resilience, fortitude and leave you on the edge of your seat. Reading the author’s words will leave you breathless in places and hanging on the edge of your seat with fear for her and her young son.

In the pages you find the details of her incredible four-year struggle. Fleeing to an abandoned outport in 1972, she survived in complete isolation without electricity or neighbors. I can not begin to imagine the nights there or the incredible isolation she would have felt, but through her words and her very polished descriptive writing it was possible to feel her emotions.

What started as an act of rebellion, led her to an almost breaking point and were it not for a moment of redemption I am not sure I would ever have been able to read this story.

A coming-of-age story for anyone who has ever had to choose between love and identity, offering both caution and hope on a journey to self-discovery.

The author utilized fifty-year-old diary entries and oral histories to write this book.

[Evelyn Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an incredible story about a young mother living with her wanderlust husband in an abandoned village along Newfoundland's Forgotten Coast. No running water or electricity! No neighbours! Weather extremes! I found the book a bit long in places (it could have been trimmed by 100 pages and been just as impactful), but she painted a vivid picture of the isolation and mental strain of life in the wild.
I really wish there had been more pictures in the book as I think that would have made the book come to life.
This would make a tremendous movie with some incredible experiences and larger-than-life characters.
Content warnings. Occasional strong language. Peril. References to infidelity.

[Bobbiann Markle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating true story of Dawn's life with her husband and small son in an abandoned Newfoundland outport. There were happy times, but also physical, mental, and emotional difficulties. The stress of usually being the only woman among a group of men told on her.

[Paulette Vogt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book about strength and courage and a woman’s courage to risk all for the love of her family till she can’t anymore. Highly recommend reading it.