Neerlandia author shares full circle journey in new book

It’s not until we revisit the past that we can find true healing.

After releasing her debut novel earlier this year, award winning Neerlandian journalist, artist, speaker, and author Emily Wierenga has released another book more personal than the last.

Atlas Girl is a travel memoir, but looking deeper it’s much more than that. The story is a spiritual and physical journey of a confused teenage girl seeking truth.

Wierenga left home when she was 18-years old. She was a frustrated, disillusioned pastor’s daughter who wanted nothing more than to search for God on her own terms, in her own way.

“I’ve gone through anorexia from the age of 9 to 13, just kind of wary of religion and being told what was true and what wasn’t, and not having a voice of my own,” said Wierenga. “I left home in a hurry, and couldn’t wait to travel the world and search for God on my own.”

Little did she know her travels would eventually lead her back to where her journey began. Almost a decade later, Wierenga left Korea where she was living with her husband, and moved home to care for her mother who had contracted brain cancer.

“I hadn’t realized how sick my mom was, and when I did my husband gave me his blessing to go home and begin caring for her,” she said. “It was during those three years of caring for her that I really met God for the first time.”

It was also during these years that Wierenga began pouring her heart and soul into what would eventually become her memoir.

“I started a blog and began just journaling what my mom was teaching me during her brain cancer,” she said. “It was just a way of releasing my sorrow and all the things I was learning while I took care of her.”

However it wasn’t until she was approached by Baker Books that she transformed her story into a travel memoir. Wierenga said she does have four other published books, but this was one of the first times she had been asked to write one.

“That was neat,” she said. “And very complimentary.”

The writing process for the memoir itself was a difficult one for Wierenga. Writing a memoir is digging up the past, she said, but that isn’t the only part of the journey.

“You want to unearth all the seeds and plant them again so they bloom,” she said. “I think that’s one of the keys to writing a powerful memoir, is to not just dig it up, but replant.”

Wierenga said she was lucky to have the unwavering support of her family, who stood by her side through the whole journey. There were however some painful moments to overcome.

When her family helped edit the book, Wierenga said they felt certain parts of the story didn’t honour who they were in the past. Despite this, she added the final product was very much a collaborative effort.

“We all come from families and we all have different perspectives within those families of what happened,” she said. “My parents and my brothers and sisters were very good at honouring the way I had seen the story of our lives unfold.”

One of the driving forces of the book is Wirenga’s relationship with her father. It’s a longing to be closer to him, she said, and her struggle with having to share him with the church and the world.

“I think every daughter longs for that close relationship with their dad,” she said. “It would seem the book is really resinating with women ages 18-60. It’s basically a journey for every woman who has wanted to feel like they belong, and I think that’s most of us.”

Atlas Girl is for sale at Fyfe’s Friendly Pharmacy in Barrhead, and in Chapters at West Edmonton Mall. It’s also available online on Amazon. In fact, the book became an Amazon best-seller in its first week.

“It’s the first of my books to actually do well, so it was incredibly rewarding,” said Wierenga. “We’re just hoping to continue the momentum. It’s been on some pretty big blogs this month, so that has helped.”

With the exception of a few administrative fees, all proceeds from Wierenga’s memoir go straight to the non-profit organization she founded earlier this year to help equip the mothers and children in the slums of Uganda.

In January 2014, Wierenga traveled to Kampala, Uganda, with World Help Organization on a bloggers’ trip. After seeing the slums firsthand, she left with a desire to help and give back. When she returned to Neerlandia, Wierenga founded The Lulu Tree, which voices the mission statement “Preventing tomorrow’s orphans by equipping today’s mothers.”

“People can donate on the website, or they can buy the book and all the proceeds will go towards it,” she said. “That’s why I’m trying to get [the book] out there.”

For more information, or to donate, visit www.thelulutree.com.

Atlas Girl isn’t the end of Wierenga’s story though. The writer has already finished the book’s sequel called Making It Home, which is scheduled to be released next July.

“More on a spiritual aspect, the sequel is about getting close to our Heavenly Father,” said Wierenga. “It’s just an ongoing journey.”

In the meantime though, Wierenga said she hopes the beginning of her story will bring strength to those struggling with their future because of the past.

“I hope people gain the courage to revisit their past,” said Wierenga. “It’s not until we revisit the past that we can find true healing.”