The Journal

R. D. Stevens

What do you do when you lose the only thing that you truly care for?

Ethan Willis is a confused eighteen-year-old who struggles with the depth and uncertainty of life. It's been six months since Charlotte, his free-spirited sister, disappeared in Cambodia. In a last desperate attempt to find her, he sets off to follow her trail around Southeast Asia.

Ethan idolizes his sister for her spontaneity and individualism, but finds himself unprepared for the colour and complexity that greet him on his journey. Thrown into this heady world of backpacking and clashing cultures, Ethan is confronted with the fact that Charlotte is not the only one who is lost.

With only a battered journal and some new acquaintances to guide him, Ethan is taken on a meandering passage through the countryside of Cambodia, into the remotest parts of Laos, and finally to the party islands of Thailand. As this expedition unfolds, Ethan must also look inward to address unresolved questions about his past and the world around him, not only searching for Charlotte herself, but for an understanding of why she left. Ethan will stop at nothing to look for Charlotte, but is he truly ready to find her?