In the late 1960s, Cea Sunrise Person’s family left their suburban hippie existence in California to live off the grid in Canada’s idyllic wilderness. Led by Cea’s eccentric grandfather, they called a canvas teepee home, grew pot, and hunted and gathered to survive, weathering fierce storms and food shortages. In this world there were no social security numbers, no roots and no rules.

One day, Cea’s mother and her new boyfriend hit the road, taking Cea with them. As the trio set upon a series of ill-fated attempts to find a stable home, things began to unravel. Her drug-fuelled, promiscuous young mother exposed Cea to new threats and fears as they drifted: hitchhiking, squatting and stealing to get by.

Beginning to question the life she’d been born into, Cea realised she would have to make a choice: follow in the path of her mother or escape the counterculture for good. Barely a teenager, she set off to pursue a career in modelling, searching for a means to achieve the normal life she craved.

From nature child to international model by the age of thirteen, Cea’s astonishing story is one of extreme family dysfunction and ultimate triumph. Told with remarkable candour and emotional intensity, North of Normal is a coming-of-age story like no other, and a book for anyone who has ever longed for something better.