A Cold and Lonely Place

Book excerpt: A riveting novel from the author of the critically acclaimed Learning to Swim and an Anthony Award nominee for Best Novel While she's watching the crew build the Winter Carnival ice palace, Troy Chance sees a body encased in the frozen lake—a man she recognizes as the boyfriend of one of her roommates. When she is assigned to write a feature on his life and mysterious death, Troy discovers he was the missing son of a wealthy Connecticut family. Trying to unravel what brought him to this Adirondack village, she joins forces with his girlfriend and his sister, who comes to town to find answers. But as Troy digs deeper, it’s clear someone doesn’t want the investigation to continue. And when she uncovers long-buried secrets that could shatter the serenity of the small town and many people’s lives, she’ll be forced to decide how far her own loyalties reach. “Sara J. Henry brilliantly draws us into a terrifying but ultimately affirmative novel in which love, friendship, and the shining truth about who we really are redeem an otherwise hopeless universe.” —Howard Frank Mosher, award-winning author of God’s Kingdom