Book excerpt: At age fifty-nine, author C. Hawks feels like she is on the brink of brokenness and embarks on a ninety-two-day sojourn that takes her to quaint, often non-English-speaking, European villages. Beyond My Story is a deeply honest memoir about the author’s journey of healing, introspection, and insight into the power that our stories hold. Hawks demonstrates an ability to boldly look within and to greet her own ego and shadow self. In her pursuit of desperately needed rest, nourishment, and revitalization, she trudges her way through the story she has been living and examines the consciousness that has shaped her story. She blazes a trail for any woman courageous enough, broken enough, or desperate enough to follow. A deeply reflective journey, Beyond My Story teaches us how to open our own doors to awareness and higher consciousness. With its twists, turns, and often comedic encounters, this memoir reflects Hawks’s belief that the world needs more of our feminine energy and that it needs us to be nourished, healed, and self-aware. This is a must-read for every woman who has ever wondered, “Why am I?”