In a
secessionist rural state that has cut itself off completely from urban centers,
where living is hardscrabble and poor but “free,” Brooke Holland runs a farm
with her husband, Milo, and two daughters. Their life at the fringes of modern
society is tenuous—they make barely enough from each harvest to keep going—yet
Brooke cherishes the loving, peaceful life they have carved out for themselves.
She has even begun to believe she is free from the violent history she has kept
a secret from her family.

When escaped
criminal Stephen Cawley attacks at the farm, Brooke’s buried talents surface,
and she manages to quickly and harshly subdue him. She is
convinced that he has come in retribution for the blood feud she thought she
escaped years ago. Brooke sets out to bring Cawley to justice, planning to use
the bounty on his head to hide her family far from danger. Fearing that other
members of Cawley’s infamous family will soon descend, Brooke insists Milo and
the girls flee with her, travelling miles on foot across an unforgiving
landscape to reach the nearest marshal. Their journey, started at the onset of
winter with little preparation, brings already strained family dynamics to the
breaking point. As Brooke’s ghosts—both real and imagined—close in, the
ruthlessness that let her survive her past may become the biggest threat to her
hopes for a different future. What follows is a harrowing exploration of family
loyalty, trauma, and resilience.

As haunting and
propulsive as it is powerfully written, The Captive is a thrilling debut novel about the impossible choices we make to survive and
protect the ones we love.