The search for inner peace is a quest on which many embark. However, life’s pitfalls and turmoil often stand in the way of discovering that desired state, as our beliefs and priorities change with each experience we encounter. Those experiences eventually accumulate to mask the fact that the answers we seek are not an external prize to be won, but a gift that resides within us all. Simon van der Heym explores this theme in his debut novel, "In Search of a Brilliant White Cloud." "In Search of a Brilliant White Cloud" tells the story of Eric, a young Jewish boy forced to spend much of his childhood on the run from the Nazis, as he and his family struggle to survive the war. The experience follows him to manhood, as he and his family emigrate to Canada, and Eric builds an adult life of which any man would be proud. Yet with each triumph he achieves, with each blessing bestowed, Eric finds himself more and more restless and feeling not free, but weighted down as he sees only the pressures of business, family and life in general. It is only when that life is threatened once again does Eric realize that the peace he spent a lifetime seeking was within himself after all. "In Search of a Brilliant White Cloud" is an insightful and revealing novel about what’s really important in life and the answers we can often find within ourselves, if only we will take the time to look