First published 2026
Unnur works at a Reykjavík bakery under a false name, keeping her head down while raising her daughter Lilja. She has spent twenty years avoiding memories of that final childhood summer when her friend Freyja vanished on a black sand beach in the remote Dark Valley. Unnur fears she caused the disappearance. Her careful anonymity crumbles when her ex-husband returns to Iceland with a new girlfriend who knows too much about Unnur's real identity. Police reopen the cold case investigation into Freyja's disappearance. Unnur realizes she must recover her fractured memories of what truly happened that summer or lose custody of Lilja. The past and present collide as Unnur races against time to piece together the truth about her otherworldly friend's fate while protecting her daughter from the consequences of long-buried secrets.
Genres: drama, mystery, contemporary, adult-fiction, psychological-thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, haunting, introspective, suspenseful
Tropes: fractured-memories, mother-daughter-bond, past-meets-present, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Reykjavík, Iceland, Dark Valley, Black Sand Beach
Period: 21st-century, contemporary
304 pages · Hardcover · Spiegel & Grau
Content warnings: child-death, death