Atlas of the Human Heart

Growing up in the Bay Area in the 90s, teenage Ariel thinks people are basically assholes, and there aren't too many people around to prove her wrong. So on the pretext of an imaginary acceptance into a Chinese language school, she buys a one-way ticket to China. She does end up attending the school, but after she comes under police surveillance, she hits the road, spending three years traveling around the world, navigating vast changes of fortune and friendship, and eventually coming back to where she started, forever changed. The perfect book for past or future dropouts and runaways or anyone looking for validation to drop everything and pursue their freedom.