At its heart, Only One Foot to the East is the story of Lucy, young, vibrant, and full of spirit, whose life takes a brutal turn after a motorcycle crash leaves her severely injured, ultimately losing a leg and living with a colostomy. From this trauma, the novel spins out into a journey of healing, discovery, and survival as Lucy navigates not only her new body but the tangled mess of love, independence, and the 1970s counterculture. There’s tragedy here, sure, but there’s also grit, and humor, and surprising beauty.

Right off the bat, what grabbed me was how raw and unflinching the writing was. The opening chapter doesn’t hold back. Lucy’s pain is laid bare, bone, blood, and all. James doesn’t pretty up her trauma. He describes the shattered leg, the emergency surgeries, the stoma with brutal medical accuracy, and it’s hard to look away. But what really stuck with me wasn’t just the clinical detail; it was Lucy’s rage. “The anger was what saved her from serious depression,” the book says, and you feel that, viscerally. It reminded me that healing isn’t always graceful. Sometimes it’s sweaty, pissed-off, and ugly. And that’s okay.

What surprised me most was how the novel balances all this trauma with a real sense of wanderlust and rebellion. Once Lucy begins to recover, she heads off on a trip through Europe, India, and Australia. These chapters feel like an entirely different book, in a good way. The rehab scenes are heavy, but the travel bits are wild. Psychedelics, philosophy, friendships, and some questionable decisions. The contrast between sterile hospitals and chaotic hostels gives the book real range. And it doesn’t shy away from the darker parts of the hippie era; there’s drug smuggling, addiction, and betrayal. Yet through it all, Lucy never stops evolving. She gets lost, but not defeated.

The book would pull me right back in with something honest. Like the moment Lucy sees her amputated leg for the first time in the mirror, or when she tries to wear flip-flops again and realizes her prosthetic won’t allow it. These little moments feel more powerful than the big philosophical musings. They hit harder, and they feel real. When the love story with Zak reemerged, it’s messy, complicated, full of weed smoke and arguments, and it doesn’t feel like a fairytale. It feels like two broken people clinging to each other in the storm.

This book is for anyone who’s had to rebuild themselves from scratch. If you’ve ever felt like your body betrayed you, or the world turned on you, or you just didn’t fit the mold, this book will sit with you, cry with you, and maybe laugh a little too. It’s rough around the edges, but that’s the point. For readers who love character-driven stories with emotional depth, a dose of dark humor, and a bit of wanderlust, Only One Foot to the East hits the mark. It’s not a light read, but it’s a worthwhile one.

Pages: 217 | ASIN : B0F4PWCWY1