From the author of Into the Fall comes a chilling psychological thriller about family, forgiveness, and the fear of long-hidden truths, set amid the snowbound wilderness along Lake Superior’s North Shore.

In this chilling thriller set deep in the winter wilderness of Lake Superior’s North Shore, a mother goes missing after receiving a mysterious gift—and a daughter risks everything to bring her back.

Emma Meadows has a secret. One she’s been carrying for over twenty years, too terrified to tell even her devoted husband.

The unassuming mother of one tries to blend in with life in her sleepy Canadian town on the shores of Lake Superior, but on Christmas Day, Emma’s boisterous in-laws make it nearly impossible. When a strange gift arrives bearing a sinister message, her nerves threaten to shatter. The next day, she disappears.

Although the police and her husband think Emma just walked away, twenty-one-year-old Jaden believes there’s more to her mother’s disappearance. Searching for answers, she begins with the gift: a glass music box. But as Jaden’s questions open a window into her mother’s past, they spark unwanted attention from a stranger, forcing her on the run.

Trapped by a brutal ice storm in the heart of a northern wilderness, Jaden is forced to confront her mother’s secrets and a stranger carrying a dangerous truth. Fighting to protect the people they love—no matter what—Jaden, Emma, and the stranger find themselves on a collision course from a deadly past.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Tamara L. Miller earned her PhD in Canadian history before embarking on a career working for the federal government. Starting out as a doe-eyed policy analyst, she eventually moved into an executive role with the Government of Canada. She later left public service, older and perhaps a little wiser, to become a writer. Her debut novel, Into the Fall, was published in 2025. Tamara is a past president of Ottawa Independent Writers and has written several articles published online by the likes of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Ottawa Life Magazine.

Over the years, the author has called many Canadian cities home but now lives in Ottawa with her family and two long-suffering cats. She’s always been fascinated by the raw beauty of the wilder places in the world and escapes to them whenever possible.