First published 2014
Ruthie wakes up in the Vermont farmhouse where she lives with her mother Alice and younger sister. Alice has vanished without a trace. The nineteen-year-old searches desperately for any clue about where her mother might have gone. She discovers a hidden diary beneath the floorboards of Alice's bedroom. The journal belonged to Sara Harrison Shea, a woman who died in 1908 in the field behind their very house. Sara's death came just months after losing her own daughter. Ruthie becomes absorbed in Sara's story as she reads the century-old entries. West Hall has always been a place where people disappear and strange legends take root. As Ruthie digs deeper into the past, she realizes other people are also searching for missing loved ones. The boundaries between past and present begin to blur. Ruthie may be the only person who can prevent the tragic pattern from continuing.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, supernatural, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: dual-timeline, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Vermont, West Hall
Period: 1908, 21st Century
317 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday
Content warnings: death