Not everyone is lucky enough to escape their bad situations. Those who do usually can never escape their scars.

Zam and Cheta may be sisters, but their parents are about the only thing they have in common. Not only do they look and act like opposites, but Cheta, the older daughter, bears the worst of her mother’s violence. And she resents Zam, the younger, for being their mother’s favorite.

Everything changes when Zam leaves the village to stay with their Aunt and Uncle. Not long after, Cheta realizes she’s been putting up with her mother’s wrath for too long. And nothing will ever be the same again.

No matter your situation, everyone holds onto something from their childhood they wish they could bury. Many make the mistake of thinking the key to happiness is to letting go of the things you carry. How You Grow Wings argues that the things you take with you are your reminders to keep moving forward. To be different. To be better.

This book is for anyone who has ever walked away from a life they no longer want to start something new. For anyone who has ever emerged from the only home they ever knew to realize their idea of “normal” was anything but that. For everyone who has ever said goodbye knowing it was the best for everyone, even while wishing things could have ended differently after everything survived.

How You Grow Wings is available now wherever books are sold.

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Meg Dowell is the creator of Brain Rush, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words, and Not a Book Hoarder, celebrating books of all kinds. She is an editor, writer, book reviewer, podcaster, and photographer. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about nonsense and Star Wars.