First published 2021
Saskia was a damaged teenager when she found refuge at Home, a lakeside commune in rural Maine. She fell under the spell of Abraham, the charismatic leader who became a guiding light for her and four other teens. The scent of sourdough, the call of loons at midnight, and wild mushrooms foraged from the forest floor made Home feel like paradise. Two decades later, Saskia lives alone on her Connecticut estate, cut off from her former friends. Then threatening letters arrive. Someone demands that all five return to Maine or their teenage secret will be exposed. That secret involves the terrible thing they did in a desperate attempt to save their commune. Now adults living vastly different lives, the five must reunite to face their blackmailer. They return to the place that shaped them, forced to confront the horror that tore them apart years ago. The question becomes how far they will go to keep their secret buried forever.
Genres: fiction, mystery, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Connecticut, Maine
Period: 2000s, 1990s
432 pages · Hardcover · Flatiron Books
Content warnings: abuse, mental-illness