The falling snow warped his sense of direction, and his starving body made him light-headed...

"Come, John, please!" She had to shout to be heard above the howling wind. Yet the pleading tone of her voice got him on his feet once more ...

A few minutes later John's foot kicked a metallic object aside. He blinked a few times, not wanting to believe what he saw. Sherab's curiosity overcame her. She pushed his hand aside and picked up Yu's discarded canteen. She stared at it in horror ...

John could almost see her spirit finally break. Sherab stared at the canteen they'd abandoned two nights ago. They had walked in a huge circle over the past two days...

more excerpts

John Pearson, a successful stockbroker from Toronto, wants to escape the everyday rat race. Backpacking in the remote land of Tibet, his sense of peace is abruptly ended when Sherab, a severely beaten and starved Tibetan woman, attempts to rob him.

He soon discovers Sherab's terrible secret which threatens her people's future.

In attempting to help her, John unwittingly becomes a fugitive from justice. They find themselves being pursued relentlessly by the Chinese military who will stop at nothing to silence Sherab, and prevent them from leaving occupied Tibet.

John and Sherab desperately search for a way out of the country. Only one route remains open to them, but can they survive the forbidding trek across the Tibetan wilderness while staying ahead of their pursuers?

While this is a work of fiction, the plight of the Tibetan people is very real. It is my hope that this work can help raise awareness of an area of our world that suffers far too much. As a writer, I try to satisfy what I look for as a reader: fiction that entertains and teaches me something at the same time.

Jean Grandbois