An idyllic suburban town A devastating discovery Shocking revelations that will change three lives forever At the end of a long winter in well to do Ridgedale New Jersey the body of a newborn is found in the woods fringing the campus of the town s prestigious university No one knows the identity of the baby what ended her very short life or how she came to be found among the fallen leaves But for the residents of Ridgedale there is no shortage of opinions When freelance journalist and recent Ridgedale transplant Molly Sanderson is unexpectedly called upon to cover the disturbing news for the Ridgedale Readerthe town s local papershe has good reason to hesitate A severe depression followed the loss of her own baby and this assignment could unearth memories she has tried hard to bury But the disturbing history Molly uncovers is not her own Her investigation reveals a decades old trail of dark secrets hiding behind Ridgedale s white picket fences Told from the perspectives of three Ridgedale women Kimberly McCreight s taut and profoundly moving novel unwinds the tangled truth behind the tragedy revealing that these women have far more in common than they could ever have imagined that the very worst crimes are committed against those we love And thatsooner or laterthe past catches up to all of us McCreight creates a world that pulls us in completely and genuinely with characters that can enrage amuse and fill us with empathy It s a thrilling novel GILLIAN FLYNN 1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl Motherhood hasn t been easy for Molly Sanderson and the years since the loss of her second child have been a particular struggle But six months after moving from New York City to sophisticated Ridgedale New Jersey she s finally enjoying life again as mother of a five year old daughter and fledgling arts reporter for the local paper But this tenuous stability is threatened when the body of a newborn is found in the woods behind pr