Ella has lived her life without questioning it.

Driving forward.

Overworking.

Overriding her own needs.

Accepting less care than she deserves and calling it strength.

After her father's death, she expects grief.

What she doesn't expect is the space.

For the first time, she begins to see her life clearly - the hollow places, the roles she performs, the ways her body tightens when she says yes instead of no. What once felt normal begins to feel forced. What once felt inevitable begins to feel optional.

She begins - quietly and steadily - to make choices that feel truer, even when they feel scary, and even when they unsettle the people around her.

And once she starts, she cannot go back.

What opens is the rest of her life, this time by choice.

"Beautiful and life-affirming. It held me through grief and self-doubt and gently brought me back to myself. A story that stayed with me long after I'd finished reading." - Ceryn Rowntree, author of The Divine Feminist