Cover

Praise

Praise for the novels of Jacquelyn Mitchard

The Deep End of the Ocean

“A wrenching first novel.... Wonderfully written.”

—New York Times Book Review

“Masterful... A big story about human connection and emotional survival.”

—Los Angeles Times

No Time to Wave Goodbye

“A bold, brilliant powerhouse of a novel. I read it in one sitting, unable to walk away until I’d come to the startling and unexpected end.”

—Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Gripping, suspenseful and downright good; a beautiful reminder of why the world loves Jacquelyn Mitchard.”

—Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author

Second Nature

“Timely...provocative.... [Mitchard’s] distinctive voice is strong throughout.... Her latest will not disappoint.”

—Washington Post Book World

“Mitchard’s latest ought to come with a warning: make no immediate plans, because this book will take over your life... A high-profile novel destined to galvanize fans and new readers alike.”

—Booklist, starred review

“A riveting tale.”

—Publishers Weekly

“There’s a newsy urgency to this story.”

—Chicago Tribune

Two If by Sea

“Suspenseful...nearly impossible to put down.”

—People

“Soulful and emotionally arresting... Mitchard masterfully mines the place where catastrophic loss meets near-impossible hope and healing... This book will open your mind and heart in equal measures.”

—Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife

“A thoughtful, sweeping read.”

—Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Leaving Time

“Mitchard returns with another heartbreaker.”

—Library Journal

“A troubled protagonist, beset by disaster and malefaction, is touched by magic.”

—Kirkus Reviews

Booklist

Also by Jacquelyn Mitchard

The Deep End of the Ocean

The Most Wanted

A Theory of Relativity

The Breakdown Lane

Still Summer

Cage of Stars

Twelve Times Blessed

Christmas Presents

No Time to Wave Goodbye

Second Nature

Two If by Sea

About the Author

Jacquelyn Mitchard is the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of twelve novels for adults, seven novels for teenagers and five children’s books, including The Deep End of the Ocean, the inaugural selection of Oprah’s Book Club. She is also a professor of creative writing whose short stories, articles, essays and book reviews have been widely published. A native of Chicago, she now lives on Cape Cod with her family.

Dedication

For Henry the First and all very good sons

Epigraph

“The dead cling to the land. The living cling
to a story that, like currency, changes hands.”

Laura Van Prooyen

“Now that my ladder’s gone,
I must lie down where all the ladders start
In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.”

William Butler Yeats

BOOK ONE:
Release

1

I was picking my son up at the prison gates when I spotted the mother of the girl he had murdered.

Two independent clauses, ten words each, joined by an adverb, made up entirely of words that would once have been unimaginable to think, much less say.