From Nazi-occupied Norway to the lush richness of Southern California, author Karin Johanne Boer takes us on her childhood journey through the poignant drama of being caught between two different cultures-neither of which she is allowed to embrace-and life without a mother. The Hollywood stars of the 1940s place Boer in a glamorous milieu, but their influence is loudly vilified by her reclusive father, a film-set designer whose work includes "The Ten Commandments" and "The Longest Day Sadly," he is disparaging about work in Hollywood and wants desperately to return to Norway. Karin's sister, Kirsten, steadfastly stands in the gap between Karin and the family's splintered past. But she is no match for the seductively beautiful German baroness who leads Karin, now a teen, into occult explorations. Karin, obsessed with the fascinating spiritual forces on the "other side," becomes addicted. Now a young adult, darkness and confusion of a deep and cloying kind close in over her mind and heart. Karin is presented with a way out-but it is one she is determined not to take. Follow Karin's amazing journey toward redemption as she seeks to answer the two questions that continually haunt her: "Who am I, and where do I belong?"