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Summary
Summary
As a child she made headlines. As an adult no one knows her real name. But some nightmares linger even after you open your eyes...Don't miss this "hauntingly atmospheric and gorgeously written page-turner" (Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author of A Good Marriage ) from Reese Witherspoon Book Club selected and New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda.
Everyone knows the story of "the girl from Widow Hills."
Arden Maynor was just a child when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm and went missing for days. Strangers and friends, neighbors and rescue workers, set up search parties and help vigils, praying for her safe return. Against all odds, she was found, alive, clinging to a storm drain. The girl from Widow Hills was a living miracle. Arden's mother wrote a book. Fame followed. Fans and fan letters, creeps, and stalkers. And every year, the anniversary. It all became too much. As soon as she was old enough, Arden changed her name and disappeared from the public eye.
Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, Arden goes by Olivia. She's managed to stay off the radar for the last few years. But with the twentieth anniversary of her rescue approaching, the media will inevitably renew its interest in Arden. Where is she now? Soon Olivia feels like she's being watched and begins sleepwalking again, like she did long ago, even waking up outside her home. Until late one night, she jolts awake in her yard. At her feet is the corpse of a man she knows--from her previous life, as Arden Maynor.
The girl from Widow Hills is once again at the center of this story in this "compulsive page-turner" ( Booklist ).
Author Notes
Megan Miranda is the New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls , The Perfect Stranger , The Last House Guest , which was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, The Girl from Widow Hills , Such a Quiet Place , The Last to Vanish , and The Only Survivors . She has also written several books for young adults . She grew up in New Jersey, graduated from MIT, and lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children. Follow @MeganLMiranda on X and Instagram, @AuthorMeganMiranda on Facebook, or visit MeganMiranda.com.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The hospital administrator who now calls herself Olivia Meyer, the narrator of this suspenseful but far-fetched page-turner from bestseller Miranda (The Last House Guest), has put as much distance as possible between her and the drama that riveted the country two decades earlier when, as sleepwalking six-year-old Arden Maynor, she was apparently swept away during a storm into the drain pipes of her hometown of Widow Hills, Ky., until a miracle rescue three days later. But despite the subsequent charitable outpouring, the future proved far from rosy for the traumatized child, who was unable to remember most of her ordeal, and her troubled single mother. The adult Liv seems finally to be starting fresh in Central Valley, N.C.--until one night, while sleepwalking, for a second time, outside, she stumbles over a dead body. As Liv tries to keep Det. Nina Rigby at bay while she investigates further herself, the author throws suspicion on a succession of suspects. The pace quickens with a second murder and the appearance of a stalker. Even though Miranda opts increasingly for surprise over plausibility, psychological thriller fans will enjoy the ride. Author tour. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary. (June)
Kirkus Review
Arden Maynor was only 6 when a traumatic event changed her life forever. Twenty years ago, Arden, who now goes by Olivia Meyer, was swept into Widow Hills, Kentucky's underground system of pipes during a deluge and was trapped for three days before she was miraculously rescued. The rescue effort was immense, as was the media coverage. Support, monetary and otherwise, for little Arden poured in. Not all of the publicity and attention were good, however, and Olivia, who remembers very little about those three days, has been trying to put the entire incident behind her for a decade. Now she's a hospital administrator in rural Central Valley, North Carolina, and is starting to feel that the worst is behind her, until she wakes up outside her home after a sleepwalking episode, the same thing that preceded her childhood ordeal. The sleepwalking incident sets her alarm bells clanging, but then she's approached, in public, by a man who seems to know exactly who she is. She hasn't even told her closest friend and co-worker, Bennett, about her past. When she awakens outside again one night, there's a man's body at her feet and blood covering her hands. The dead man turns out to be a blast from Olivia's past, and now the police are involved. But Olivia isn't about to let everything she's done to put her past behind her come crashing down, even it means opening a Pandora's box full of secrets that may have been better off left in the dark. Miranda nimbly mines underexplored terrain: the long-term aftermath of dramatic, highly publicized rescues. Olivia's desire to live a life undefined by that one event is relatable, and her amnesia about those three days lets Miranda flaunt her considerable talent for jaw-dropping, yet believable, twists. Even jaded readers might not see this one coming. An unusual heroine anchors this creepy, fast-paced chiller. This is Miranda's best book yet. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
As the twentieth anniversary of her childhood trauma nears, Olivia Meyer's life begins falling apart. She's the girl from Widow Hills, Kentucky, who, as six-year-old Arden Maynor, went sleepwalking in a record storm and was swept away into drainpipes, from which she was miraculously rescued three days later, becoming a national news story. Now with a legally changed name and a master's degree in health-care management, she keeps her past a secret while making a new life for herself as a hospital administrator in North Carolina. But then she starts sleepwalking again, stumbling one night over a murdered body between her yard and her neighbor's. When the victim is found to be the man who rescued her 20 years earlier, her past is likely to be revealed. Worse, she doesn't know whether she had a part in his death. Miranda, a best-selling author of thrillers for both adults and YAs, sprinkles the present-day narrative with transcripts and reports from Olivia's past, building suspense with startling plot twists that lead to a stunning climax. Another compulsive page-turner from an accomplished author.
