First published 2006
Charlotte Hopper works as a nurse practitioner at El Centro, a women's health center tucked away in rural Pennsylvania. She has built a careful, peaceful existence until her old college friend moves into the house next door. This reunion brings back a secret so damaging that Charlotte's husband chooses to leave rather than confront what happened years ago. The situation grows worse when someone makes a heartbreaking discovery on the clinic grounds. Suddenly El Centro becomes the center of media attention, and the women who work there find themselves suspected of a horrific crime. Charlotte must navigate this storm of personal and professional crises. She faces impossible choices about how much of herself she can sacrifice for others while still protecting what matters most to her.
Genres: medical, mystery, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: El Centro, Pennsylvania
Period: contemporary
283 pages · Mass Market Paperback · NAL Trade
Content warnings: medical-trauma