To realize the value of life, you have to face the inevitability of death.
Valency Stirling, who turned twenty-nine, has always lived under the influence of her tyrannical mother and intrusive aunt, remaining in the shadow of a family that crushed her desires and treated her like an old maid. Everything changes when a doctor tells her she has a fatal illness—she has only one year to live. Then Valency decides to completely change her life: break free of her family’s chains and challenge society’s norms. She starts seeing the world from a different angle, savoring every moment. Valency leaves her home, moves in with a person everyone considers dubious, and takes care of his sick daughter. Then she meets Barney Sneed, and her life takes an even bigger turn. Valency finds her mental “Azure Castle”—a sanctuary she has always had in her mind—in real life.
This story is about finding your true self, about the courage to live fully, and about love capable of transforming even the darkest fates.