The line between reality and imagination blurs for a woman facing her past in a poignant and haunting novel of grief and identity by the bestselling author of The Candid Life of Meena Dave.

Lonely and introverted Alya Sarkar prefers to escape in her daydreams, however consuming they can be. In an effort to make connections and control her increasingly intrusive fantasy life, Alya reluctantly joins a hiking group—only to watch her hiking buddy, Isha, fall to her death. For Alya, now the line between reality and daydream becomes more blurred.

In the aftermath of the accident, Alya begins to hear Isha’s voice. Then comes a plea to find the truth in the decades-old family mystery Isha left unsolved, and a journey that introduces Ayla to Isha’s brother. As tenuously grounding as her new relationship is, Alya fears that she’s also sliding into the kind of heartbreaking delusions that tragically claimed her mother.

Only in confronting her fears and Isha’s secrets can Alya hope to find love, a newfound family, and closure where she least expects it.

© 2026 by Namrata Patel. ℗ 2026 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.