Deborah dreams of horses in her backyard throughout the upheaval of her nomadic childhood and longs for a place to call home. After high school, she moves to LA with her parents and meets up with her older brother Chuck, who reveals only to her he’s gay. Their parents split and everyone scatters, leaving her vulnerable to unscrupulous men, and she turns to Chuck for help. She wanders for years through a myriad of places, jobs, and relationships across the country, and lands back in LA where she meets Greg.

His loving support helps her find the confidence to pursue her dream of becoming an artist. But at the onset of a promising career, she walks away from all she has achieved to repay an unspoken debt to her brother, diverting her quest for home. Deborah perseveres through a rollercoaster of learning and losing to keep the life she’s built with horses and art. Her curiosity, humor, and a fierce belief in dreams sustain her until she finds the place where she belongs.

For those of you in search of your own dreams, reading Dance While the Fire Burns will help you believe you can achieve them—as long as you don’t give up.