Raw. That is the first word that comes to mind when I think of Mirabai Starr's memoir Caravan of No Despair: A Memoir of Loss and Transformation. The second is brave. The third, well, there are many possibilities for the next word: compelling, authentic, optimistic, hurting, and loving. But to get to the other side, you have to go on a journey. It is a journey through a personal loss and also a journey through the inevitable suffering of life as it unfolds. Caravan is an impersonal turning of suffering on the wheel of cyclic existence recounted through the intimate and unique story of Mirabai's unconventional life.