FOOTPRINTS

Seventeen-year-old Shevaun is just trying to get through school, survive soccer season, and ignore the drama of her fractured family. But when she hears the shocking news that her childhood friend Damon is dying, everything she thought she knew begins to shift. What follows is a transformative journey through the fragile and unpredictable landscape of grief, love, friendship, and faith.

Set in small-town New Zealand at the turn of the millennium, FOOTPRINTS is a poignant coming-of-age novella told through diary-style reflections. In Shevaun's voice-intimate, contemplative, and piercing in its emotional honesty-this deeply personal story traces a young woman navigating the complexities of adolescence.

What begins as a chronicle of heartbreak expands into something far greater. As Shevaun grapples with the news about Damon, she must also face the unraveling of a childhood friendship turned toxic, the wreckage of her relationship with her estranged father, and her cousin Eddie's secret crisis of identity.

As Shevaun wrestles with the chaos, she finds unexpected strength in new connections-with Emma, a girl who disrupts her defences with unfamiliar kindness and a faith she does not yet understand; and with Kian, whose patient presence becomes something more than friendship. But as her heart cracks open, healing is anything but linear.

And then Damon dies.

What unfolds next is not resolution, but uncertain restoration. The pages of FOOTPRINTS hold space for raw vulnerability as Shevaun slowly learns that to keep going doesn't mean forgetting. Her grief becomes both anchor and compass, tethering her to a boy already fading, while slowly allowing herself to step into something new.

From windswept coastlines to the wild beauty of the Abel Tasman National Park, FOOTPRINTS is rich with the textures of New Zealand life-where landscapes mirror internal terrain and every place is reminiscent of love in all its forms: messy, unspoken, resilient.

This novella doesn't shy away from life's difficult questions-Why do we lose the ones we love? Where is God when prayers go unanswered? How do you live with a heart that holds both love and loss at once?-but always leads toward hope.

Through heartbreak and healing, Shevaun's voice remains achingly real: stubborn, sarcastic, sincere. Her world is filled with imperfect people doing their best to traverse betrayal, confusion, identity, and moments that upend everything.

With her signature blend of lyrical narrative, emotional precision, and spiritual depth, Chee captures what it means to be young and trying-to find meaning in pain, to hold sacred the people we've loved, and to recognize when it's time to begin again.

FOOTPRINTS is a tender reminder that the ones we lose never really leave us. They shape us. They walk beside us. They remain-in memories, in mementos, in the quiet echo of our hearts. Because some people leave footprints etched so deep on the soul that we are never ever the same.

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Recommended for mature teens (15+) and adults, this novella is perfect for readers who enjoy emotionally grounded coming-of-age stories. It's particularly suited to those who appreciate introspective, character-driven narratives that explore grief, faith, family, love, and the fragile beauty of friendship in times of upheaval. With a raw yet lyrical voice, FOOTPRINTS traces the quiet but powerful transformations that follow loss, carrying spiritual undercurrents and moments of soul-deep reflection. Ideal for those drawn to heartfelt, psychologically nuanced fiction that lingers long after the final page.