This is a work of fiction inspired by the abduction of Michael Dunahee from a school playground in Victoria, BC, in 1991. All characters and place names with the exception of major cities are fictional. Bethany Fisher's life has always been overshadowed by her missing brother. Four-year-old Michael was abducted when Bethany was a baby and no trace of him was ever found. Twenty years later, Bethany is a college graduate and has a small son of her own. But her life is thrown into turmoil one evening when her mother follows a man home from the supermarket and savagely beats him to death. What could have made this mild, middle-aged woman suddenly snap? Packing the emotional punch of The Lovely Bones , this powerful novel explores how the comforting lies we tell ourselves can be ultimately more destructive than confronting difficult truths.