Dream By Proxy

Seventeen-year-old EMMA CONNER knows no other world than Taylorville, a town in Appalachian country. It is a world she and her friend JOLENE yearn to escape. Jolene’s ticket out of town is a scholarship to Boston to pursue her dream, marine biology, and she enrolls in a program on board a schooner, SeaQuest. The tragedy of a family caught up in dark secrets shatters Jolene’s dream before she embarks. The challenge of having Jolene’s goals ripped away is more than Emma can withstand. Emma assumes Jolene’s identity and lives her friend’s dream on board the SeaQuest.

During this journey, Emma confronts the division between rich and poor, faces the rejection and harassment from her peers and encounters challenges brought on by nature. Through each predicament, Emma practices the wise teachings of her grandma, finds compassion for other’s suffering and discovers a new strength within herself. When a freak wave hits the SeaQuest, Emma redeems her simple but honorable hillbilly heritage in a battle of survival. She recognizes that it’s what lives in her heart that matters. Dream By Proxy is a story of psychological adventure across cultures and seas.M.