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Dawn Elizabeth Neill is a memoirist and retired international educator whose extraordinary life journey spans from isolated wilderness to global classrooms. Her debut memoir, RESCUED: A Young Mother's Memoir of Survival on Newfoundland's Forgotten Coast, published in July 2025, chronicles her remarkable four-year struggle for survival in Pushthrough, an abandoned outport during the early 1970s.
At the age of twenty, Neill found herself in one of Canada's most remote locations—a place with no roads, no electricity, no neighbours, and no escape. Drawing from fifty-year-old diary entries and recorded accounts with an elderly lighthouse keeper, RESCUED reveals how, as a young woman, she battled isolation, brutal weather, and near-death adventures while raising her infant son in the wilderness.
RESCUED forms the first instalment of Neill's "Journeys Trilogy”, following her transformative life from sea to sand to snow. After leaving Newfoundland, she earned her teaching degree from the University of Toronto over a ten year period while raising three children as a single parent.
Her subsequent three-decade career in international education took her across continents and cultures. She taught in Mexico, spent five years in the Middle East, and finally worked for seven years in Canada's Arctic —completing the dramatic arc from Arabian desert to northern frontier. Throughout her travels, she maintained detailed diaries and journals chronicling diverse cultures and her own personal transformations.
Neill's writing explores themes that resonate across generations: the tension between love and personal identity, maternal commitment, rebuilding trust after betrayal, and the quest for authentic self-discovery. Her memoir doesn't shy away from difficult topics while maintaining a tone that is both honest and ultimately hopeful.
The decision to publish came after years of encouragement from family and friends, who told her she should share her experiences. The tipping point arrived when her now-grown children embarked on their own adventures aboard tall ships, inspiring Neill to chase her long-deferred dream of telling her story. Their courage reminded her it's never too late to pursue new horizons.
As an author, Neill is passionate about creating meaningful dialogue around her work. She has developed a comprehensive discussion guide for book clubs, recognizing that her themes of survival, motherhood, trust, and self-discovery resonate powerfully with readers seeking both entertainment and deeper conversations about life's challenges and possibilities.
Looking ahead, Neill is excited to share the subsequent volumes of her trilogy, exploring her transformative years in the Middle East and her profound Arctic experiences. Each book promises to reveal new layers of her remarkable journey while exploring universal themes of adaptation, courage, and the search for home and belonging.
Today, Neill writes from her home on the shores of Lake Simcoe, Ontario, where she lives with her partner. When not writing, she enjoys connecting with readers, spending time with her grandchildren, and traveling.
Neill's story serves as a powerful reminder that our most challenging experiences often become our greatest sources of strength. Through RESCUED and the books that follow, she invites readers to consider their own journeys of survival, growth, and ultimately, rescue—whether from external circumstances or internal limitations.
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