She's Gone

Its 1969. Jolie stands on the deck of her parents Santa Barbara home watching an uncontrolled oil spill. Shes outraged and motivated to do something about it. Jolies father may be an oil executive but that doesnt stop her from hitchhiking to the harbor and joining an anti-oil drilling protest. When a television broadcast shows her protesting Jolies father prohibits any more involvement. This fuels the fire burning inside of her and she flees home with Will her older activist boyfriend. Idealistic and ready for anything Jolie follows Will and his big promises into the sixties cultural revolution to create a better society. Thrown into an adult world Jolie lies about her age and identity and quickly discovers that nearly everything is more complicated than it seems on the surface-Will included. In this psychological love story Jolies emotional journey from California to the East Coast is one of pain resilience fear and hope as she navigates an increasingly controlling boyfriend and her own personal convictions. Filled with colorful settings characters and the music of the times Shes Gone is an authentic and heartfelt story of self-discovery that follows a young womans spiritual odyssey through the domestic unrest of the Vietnam War the start of the environmental movement and the Womens Liberation Movement. Many of the social and political issues continue to be relevant today. Joye Emmens deftly explores the political landscape of 1960s America...Emmens descriptions of the historical topography...greatly elevates the storys engaging veracity. Shes Gone besides being an entertaining exposition into the counterculture that reigned in Americas mid-twentieth century is a captivating tale of a girls adventuresome transition into womanhood. -Readers Favorite 5 Star Review