Atlas of the Human Heart

Hip Mama creator Ariel Gore's memoir chronicling her departure-at the age of sixteen-from the sterile suffocation of the Silicon Valley into the pulsing chaos of the Far East, and on to a nomad's Europe

Like Jack Kerouac's intrepid little sister, Ariel Gore spins the spirited story of a vulnerable drifter who takes refuge in the recesses of the human heart. With just a few pennies and her I Ching, a change of clothes and a one-way ticket to Hong Kong, a perceptive, searching Gore makes her way through the labyrinthine customs of Cold-War China, wanders bustling, electric Katmandu, and hunkers down in an icy London squat with a prostitute and a boyfriend on the dole. Yet it is in the calm, verdant landscape of rural Italy where, pregnant and penniless, nineteen-year-old Gore's adventure truly begins. An illuminating glimpse into the boldly political Gore,creator of HipMama.com and Hip Mama magazine,this unflinching memoir offers a poignant exploration of the meaning of home, and surveys the frontiers of both land and heart.