Description

In this memoir of identity and discovery Vanessa A Bee explores the way we define home and belongingfrom her birth in Yaound Cameroon to her adoption to experiencing housing insecurity in Europe and her eventual immigration to the US After her parents divorce Vanessa traveled with her mother to Lyon and later to London eventually settling in Reno Nevada as a teenager right around the financial crisis and the collapse of the housing market At twenty still a practicing evangelical Christian and newly married Vanessa applied to and was accepted by Harvard Law School where she was one of the youngest members of her class There she forged a new belief system divorced her husband left the church and pursued a career in economic justice upon graduation

Vanessas upbringing has caused her to grapple for years with foundational questions such as What is home Is it the country were born in the body we possess or the name we were given and that identifies us Is it the house we remember most fondly the social status assigned to us or the ideology we forge What defines us and makes us uniquely who we are

Vanessa tackles these timeless questions thematically and unpacks the many layers that contribute to and condition our understanding of ourselves and of our place in the world