"Here is the truth, this is what I know: I was walking on the beach with Emma. It was cold and very foggy. She let go of my hand. I stopped to photograph a baby seal, then glanced up toward the Great Highway. When I looked back, she was gone."

From this devastating moment unfolds the spellbinding story of Abby Mason—photographer, fiancée, soon-to-be stepmother—and the consequences of her greatest error. Heartbreaking, uplifting, and beautifully told, it is a riveting tale of how life can change in an instant, of the search for the truth behind a child’s disappearance, and of one woman’s unwavering faith in the redemptive power of love.

Michelle Richmond is a critically acclaimed author whose works have won the Associated Writing Programs Award and the 2006 Mississippi Review Prize. She lives in San Francisco, where she teaches creative writing and edits the online literary journal Fiction Attic.