Harper Connelly heads to Doraville, North Carolina, to find a missing boy—one of several teenage boys who have disappeared over the last five years. And all of them are calling for Harper. She finds them, buried in the frozen ground. Soon Harper will learn more than she cared to about the dark mysteries and long-hidden secrets of Doraville—knowledge of the dead that makes her next in line to end up in an ice-cold grave.

Mary Austin (1868-1934) was born in Card Linville, Illinois. Then she came to California in 1887 to homestead with her family in Kern County, in the Great Central Valley. She is the author of many novels, essays, and story collections, including 32 books, 200 more essays and 3 scripts. As an American writer, she is famous for researching California Indians and desert-dwelling. The 14 short essays in The Land of Little Rain established her fame in the literary world.