An Amazingly Joyous Memoir about Loves Lost and Found, Miscarriage, Cancer, and Coming Home to Care for a Mother Suffering From Dementia, all Told with Humor and Brilliant Irony that Illuminates the Beauty of the Absurdity that Is Life Christine Hemp’s debut work of nonfiction, Wild Ride Home, is a brilliant memoir, looping themes of finding love and losing love, of going away and coming home, of Alzheimer’s wretched course, of cancer, of lost pregnancies, of fly fishing and horsemanship, of second chances, and, ultimately, of the triumph of love and family–all told within the framework of the training of a little white horse named Buddy. Wild Ride Home invites the reader into the close Hemp family, who believes beauty and humor outshine the most devastating circumstances. Such optimism is challenged when the author suffers a series of blows: a dangerous fiance, her mother’s dementia, unexpected death and illness. Buddy, a feisty, unforgettable little Arabian horse with his own history to overcome, offers her a chance to look back on her own life and learn to trust again, not only others, but more importantly, herself. Hemp skillfully guides us through a memoir that is, despite devastating loss, above all, an ode to joy.