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Back When the Stars Go Dark Save as PDF
Chapters (83)
  1. Epigraph
  2. Maps
  3. (prologue)
  4. Part 1: Signs and Vapors
  5. (one)
  6. (two)
  7. (three)
  8. (four)
  9. (five)
  10. (six)
  11. (seven)
  12. (eight)
  13. (nine)
  14. (ten)
  15. (eleven)
  16. (twelve)
  17. Part 2: Secret Things
  18. (thirteen)
  19. (fourteen)
  20. (fifteen)
  21. (sixteen)
  22. (seventeen)
  23. (eighteen)
  24. (nineteen)
  25. (twenty)
  26. (twenty-one)
  27. (twenty-two)
  28. (twenty-three)
  29. (twenty-four)
  30. (twenty-five)
  31. (twenty-six)
  32. (twenty-seven)
  33. (twenty-eight)
  34. (twenty-nine)
  35. (thirty)
  36. (thirty-one)
  37. (thirty-two)
  38. (thirty-three)
  39. (thirty-four)
  40. (thirty-five)
  41. (thirty-six)
  42. (thirty-seven)
  43. (thirty-eight)
  44. (thirty-nine)
  45. Part 3: Time and the Maiden
  46. (forty)
  47. (forty-one)
  48. (forty-two)
  49. (forty-three)
  50. (forty-four)
  51. (forty-five)
  52. (forty-six)
  53. (forty-seven)
  54. (forty-eight)
  55. (forty-nine)
  56. (fifty)
  57. (fifty-one)
  58. (fifty-two)
  59. (fifty-three)
  60. Part 4: The Bent Grove
  61. (fifty-four)
  62. (fifty-five)
  63. (fifty-six)
  64. (fifty-seven)
  65. (fifty-eight)
  66. (fifty-nine)
  67. (sixty)
  68. (sixty-one)
  69. (sixty-two)
  70. (sixty-three)
  71. (sixty-four)
  72. (sixty-five)
  73. (sixty-six)
  74. (sixty-seven)
  75. (sixty-eight)
  76. (sixty-nine)
  77. (seventy)
  78. Dedication
  79. (acknowledgments)
  80. (author’s note)
  81. BY PAULA MCLAIN
  82. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  83. What’s next onyour reading list?

I’m grateful to Rita Hinken and Letti Ann Christoffersen, my two mothers; to my nieces and nephews, Margaret Bailey, Jacob Bailey, and Sam and Mitchell Reller, for always encouraging my work and me; and to my sisters, Teresa Reed and Penny Pennington, who are my true north.

Finally, thanks to my children for being the most crucial element of my home team and the fabric of my life: Connor and Jamilya, Beckett and Finn. And Piper too, of course! I love and appreciate you more than words can say.

(author’s note)

Ten years ago, when inspiration struck in the form of a real woman from history, Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley, the idea seemed to come from nowhere. I had never considered writing a historical novel, let alone one that featured an actual person. And yet once I plunged into the research and writing process, it struck me powerfully that I wasn’t just telling a story; I was honoring Hadley’s life and spirit, and giving her a voice.

Something eerily similar happened in the writing of When the Stars Go Dark—the idea for which came just as unexpectedly and mysteriously, and with an electrical inner yes I’ve learned to pay attention to. I pictured a missing persons expert obsessed with trying to save a missing girl and also struggling to make peace with her past. Almost immediately I knew the story had to be set in Mendocino—a small coastal town in Northern California where I spent time in my twenties—and that the time frame of the narrative had to be pre-DNA, pre-cellphone, before the Internet had exploded and CSI had laypeople thinking they could solve a murder with their laptop.

Choosing 1993 was instinctual—random—and yet when I dug into the research, I was startled to learn that a rash of real-life abductions of young girls had occurred in the same geographical area and time frame I was exploring, most notably the kidnapping of twelve-year-old Polly Klaas. Polly was taken at knifepoint on the night of October 1, 1993, from the bedroom of her home in Petaluma while her two friends watched. It was a horror story that triggered every parent’s deepest fears, and set in motion the largest manhunt in California’s history. The town of Petaluma came together to aid in the search for Polly. Thousands of volunteers helped search three thousand square miles, and kept her rescue center running twenty-four hours a day, until December 4, nine weeks after her abduction, when her remains were discovered near an abandoned mill off Highway 101, near Cloverdale, California.