Books in the Hope and Hometown series

Growing-up. Moving away. Coming Back. A funny, thought-provoking, head-banging journey.In 1997. any visitor to Rain, Oregon will find long-buried secrets, crazy neighbors, a convent, a buffalo, a jailbird, and a sky full of beckoning stars.Sophia Bolton can't wait to get out of the place.At twenty-six, she dreams of saving humanity by traveling to the stars. She also considers herself the master of work-arounds. After all, she's escaped her sloth-thinking community several times, but family screwups-death, alcohol, stupidity, or all three-keep pulling her back to Oregon.Now she's, struggling to finish her lifelong ticket to a different life-a PhD in physics-if only people would stop putting obstacles in her path.On the night she sneaks into the campus radio station and makes a secret broadcast, it's simply a diversion to the tedium of school. It soon becomes an obsession. She can't explain why she's pirating the airways, risking her future, to share tales of how-to-survive growing up.She says the stories are for the doubtful, insecure, or anyone who doesn't fit. She doesn't realize she's doing what she's always wanted-trying to save humanity.Nor does she realize her stories will save herself.A memorable story tale of humor, heartbreak, and inspiration.