Aila Quinn’s mother, Juliet, has always been a mystery: vibrant yet guarded, she keeps her secrets beyond Aila’s reach. When Juliet dies, Aila and her younger brother Miles are sent to live in Sterling, a rural town far from home—and the place where Juliet grew up.

Sterling is a place with mysteries of its own. A place where the experiences that weave life together—scents of flowers and food, reflections from mirrors and lakes, even the ability to dream—vanish every seven years.

No one knows what caused these “Disappearances,” or what will slip away next. But Sterling always suspected that Juliet Quinn was somehow responsible—and Aila must bear the brunt of their blame while she follows the chain of literary clues her mother left behind.

As the next Disappearance nears, Aila begins to unravel the dual mystery of why the Disappearances happen and who her mother truly was. One thing is clear: Sterling isn’t going to hold on to anyone's secrets for long before it starts giving them up.

• A Town with a Secret: In Sterling, ordinary things vanish without a trace. Scents, reflections, and even dreams disappear every seven years, and no one knows what will be taken next.
• YA Historical Fantasy: Aila must navigate a strange new town in 1940s America, where the home front struggles are nothing compared to the supernatural mysteries hiding in the shadows.
• Literary Clues: To uncover the truth, Aila follows a trail of cryptic notes her mother left in the margins of a book of Shakespeare's plays, decoding a puzzle only she can solve.
• Slow Burn Romance: As Aila searches for answers, she finds an unexpected connection with Will, the quiet and handsome son of her guardians, who has secrets of his own.
• Complex Sibling Relationship: Grieving and uprooted, Aila and her younger brother Miles must rely on each other, even as the town’s secrets—and their mother’s—threaten to tear them apart.