Home Bound

In this singular and intimate memoir of identity and discovery, Vanessa A. Bee explores the way we define home and belonging from her birth in Yaound, Cameroon, to her adoption by her aunt and her aunts white French husband, to experiencing housing insecurity in Europe and her eventual immigration to the US. After her parents divorce, Vanessa travelled with her mother to Lyon and later to London, eventually settling in Reno, Nevada, as a teenager, right around the financial crisis and the collapse of the housing market. At twenty, still a practicing evangelical Christian and newly married, Vanessa applied to and was accepted by Harvard Law School, where she was one of the youngest members of her class. There, she forged a new belief system, divorced her husband, left the church, and, inspired by her tumultuous childhood, pursued a career in economic justice upon graduation. Vanessas adoptive, multiracial, multilingual, multinational, and transcontinental upbringing has caused her to grapple for years with foundational questions such as: What is home? Is it the country were born in, the body we possess, or the name we were given and that identifies us? Is it the house we remember most fondly, the social status assigned to us, or the ideology we forge? What defines us and makes us uniquely who we are? Organised unconventionally around her own dictionary-style definitions of the word home, Vanessa tackles these timeless questions thematically and unpacks the many layers that contribute to and condition our understanding of ourselves and of our place in the world. Inspirational, powerful and though-provoking, this book is a perfect read for those looking for connection, belonging and understanding.