Between the Mountain and the Sky: A Mother’s Story of Hope and Love

Doyne, founder of Kopila Valley Children’s Home, traces in this affecting work the extraordinary decade in which she “moved to Nepal, built a house, raised fifty-four children... and experienced the wildest love imaginable.” After working with Nepali refugees at a school on the Ganges river in 2009, Doyne decided, at age 19, to drain her college fund to build a home for orphaned children in war-torn Surkhet. She charts her love affair with the town, while weaving in the inspiring story of her personal growth alongside that of her organization, colleagues, and children—from raising funds for her nonprofit, BlinkNow, to being caught in the crossfire of political strife with the government (“They accuse me of... exploiting the children, and being a Christian conversion organization, which is illegal in Nepal”) to growing BlinkNow’s mission to include education and female empowerment. Doyne’s writing is by turns humorously self-effacing—“I’m not the first white girl to cross an ocean with a backpack to try to find herself on (well, near) a mountain”—and achingly moving, most notably when she recognizes the “horrible luxury” of grief she is afforded in the wake of one child’s death. This soulful story of tenacity is immensely inspiring. Agent: Margaret Riley King, William Morris Endeavor. (Feb.)