A cozy home in a quiet Mormon community, a father, a mother, three healthy daughters, and a baby on the way. Life seemed perfect until that sunny November day when Scott Early parked his car in the Swan family's driveway, walked into the backyard, and with a scythe, slit the throats of Becky and Ruthie, who were playing hide-and-seek with their older sister, Veronica. From that moment on, the family's life would never be the same. Insecurity, anger, grief, and pain. Who is to blame when the attacker acts unconsciously due to illness? How can they maintain all the religious convictions they've always trusted after the lives of two innocent children are so brutally taken? The parents are left with uncertainty: could they have prevented the worst from happening? For Veronica, their 13-year-old sister, the guilt of surviving remains. The challenge now is to move forward. And if divine justice already seemed unattainable after the children's deaths, human justice surprises them even more: Scott Early soon returns to society. For the distraught Veronica, it's impossible to continue living with the burden of having done nothing for the sisters she loved so much. She then decides to do the unthinkable: four years after the day that changed her life, she goes after Early. It's a decision made and irreversible, the only way to free herself from the pain that tears her apart... and perhaps to understand the true meaning of compassion. With rare elegance and sensitivity, Jacquelyn Mitchard once again demonstrates her mastery in portraying complex human emotions, dissecting the often unexpected conflicts and behaviors that give meaning to life. A surprising story about the pain of loss and the tortuous paths each person must travel alone to overcome it.
