A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice | A Barnes & Noble Discover Pick | A BookPage Best Book of the Year | A Poets & Writers Notable Nonfiction Debut of the Year

“Stunning . . . A graceful and powerful memorial.”?Entertainment Weekly

“Raw and perfect.”?Laura Miller, Slate

When Sarah Perry was twelve, she saw a partial eclipse; she took it as a good omen for her and her mother, Crystal. But that moment of darkness foreshadowed a much larger one: two days later, Crystal was murdered in their home in rural Maine.

It took twelve years to find the killer. In that time, Sarah rebuilt her life amid abandonment, police interrogations, and the exacting toll of trauma. She dreamed of a trial, but when the day came, it brought no closure. It was not her mother’s death she wanted to understand, but her life. She began her own investigation, one that drew her back to Maine, deep into the darkness of a small American town.