First published 2024
Mack Anders lives alone in a Wyoming cabin, cut off from everything. His wife Daisy is dying of Alzheimer's, and he made a choice he can't undo: he faked his own death so the insurance payout would cover her care. Now he waits out his days in the backcountry, certain she is better off believing him gone. Then Brandi shows up. Eighteen years old, fresh out of juvenile detention, she is dragging her little brother Sy across remote Wyoming on foot after a tire blows out in the middle of nowhere. She is trying to reach their aunt in Casper before their unstable mother can pull Sy back into the wreckage of her life. Brandi sizes Mack up fast and decides he is the only person who can get them where they need to go. The three of them set out together across unpredictable terrain. Mack has been hiding from the world to protect the woman he loves. Brandi has been fighting the world to protect her brother. Neither of them planned on needing anyone. By the time they reach the other side of this journey, Mack will have to decide whether disappearing was an act of love or an escape from it.
Genres: drama, literary-fiction, contemporary, adult-fiction, realistic-fiction, family-drama
Vibes: character-driven, emotional, intimate, introspective, poignant, redemptive
Tropes: found-family, redemption-arc, road-trip, unlikely-bonds
Setting: Wyoming, Casper, backcountry
299 pages · Paperback · Lake Union Publishing
Content warnings: death, mental-illness, terminal-illness