Deep in the Pacific Northwest lies the Olympic National
Forest– nearly one million acres of impenetrable darkness
and impossible beauty. Even in this modern age, much of it
remains undiscovered and uncharted. From the heart of this
old forest, a six-year-old girl appears. Speechless and
alone, she can give no clue as to her identity, no hint of
her past. . . .
Until recently, Dr. Julia Cates was
one of the preeminent child psychiatrists in the country,
but a scandal shattered her confidence, ruined her career,
and made her a media target. When she gets a desperate
call from her estranged sister, Ellie, a police chief in
their small western Washington hometown, she jumps at the
chance to escape.
In Rain Valley, nothing much
ever happens–until a girl emerges from the deep woods and
walks into town. She is a victim unlike any Julia has ever
seen: a child locked in a world of unimaginable fear and
isolation.
When word spreads of the “wild child”
and the infamous doctor who is treating her, the media
descend on Julia and once again her competence is
challenged. State and federal authorities want to lock the
girl away in an institution until an identification can be
made.
But to Julia, who has come to doubt her own
ability, nothing is more important than saving the girl
she now calls Alice. To heal this child, Julia will have
to understand that she cannot work alone and must look to
others–the people in the town she left long ago, the
sister she barely knows, and Dr. Max Cerrasin, a handsome,
private man with secrets of his own.
Then a
shocking revelation forces Julia to risk everything to
discover the truth about Alice. The ordeal that follows
will test the limits of Julia’s faith, forgiveness, and
love, as she struggles to ascertain where Alice ultimately
belongs.