Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Inspired by C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes--just in case--from the author of The Wishing Game .
"This is the book you've been waiting for."--Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls and the North Bath Trilogy
As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they'd gone or how they'd survived.
Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons' investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.
Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie's sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie's sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.
Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months--for only then can they get back everything and everyone they've lost.
"Inspired by C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes - just in case - from the author of The Wishing Game. As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howellvanished in a West Virginia state park, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they'd gone or how they'd survived. Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Jeremy is a famous missing persons investigator withan uncanny ability to find the lost, while Rafe is a reclusive artist unable to stop creating otherworldly paintings and sculptures he shows to no one. He bears scars inside and out from his disappearance but has no memory of what happened while they were gone. Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth behind their time in the woods. While the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end when vet tech Emilie Wendel hires Jeremy to find her long-lost sister...the long-lost sister he and Rafe knew while living in that hiddenkingdom. Now the former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories. Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy return to the enchanted world they called home for six months...for only then can they get back everything and everyone they've lost"-- Provided by publisher.
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
Shaffer's (The Wishing Game) second novel is a modern-day fairy tale set in West Virginia and a beautiful yet dangerous realm. Two teenage boys, Jeremy and Rafe, are lost in a forest, only to be found six months later by some hikers. Rafe is unable to remember anything that happened while they were missing. Jeremy remembers everything about the enchanted place they encountered but refuses to tell Rafe or explain where they were or how they survived. Years later, Jeremy has become a skilled missing-persons investigator specializing in finding lost women. Emilie, who is looking for her lost sister, enlists him to help find her, as her sister is lost in the same forest where Rafe and Jeremy disappeared. The question then becomes whether or not Jeremy will dare to venture back into the magical realm he left so long ago. VERDICT Readers will find this an absolutely immersive pleasure to read. Shaffer delivers an unforgettable and nostalgic experience, especially for fans of "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis or fairy-tale retellings.--Leigh Verburg
Publishers Weekly Review
Shaffer (The Wishing Game) plays on portal fantasy nostalgia in this brilliant riff on the Chronicles of Narnia. Emilie Wendell is mourning the loss of her adoptive mother when she discovers she has a half-sister who was kidnapped 20 years ago. She begs the help of famous missing-persons investigator Jeremy Cox. Jeremy and his high school best friend, Rafe Howell, were lost as teenagers in West Virginia's Red Crow State Park and emerged six months later completely changed. Rafe, now an artist, can't remember what happened, and ever since the incident his drawings have returned to a fantastical world he can't explain. Jeremy knows the truth--that they went through a portal into that other realm--but he's bound by a promise not to reveal the truth to Rafe. When Rafe joins in the search for Emilia's long-lost sister, the investigation takes both men back to the wondrous but deadly world they once loved. Shaffer manages to capture the joys and magic of childhood innocence alongside the wisdom that comes with age and the heartache and scars that make it difficult to go home again. The taut mystery keeps the pages of this love letter to the fantasy genre flying. Readers will be transfixed. Agent: Amy Tannenbaum, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (July)
Booklist Review
This soothing novel will appeal to fans of classic and portal fantasies, where other fantastic worlds are lying under our own, just waiting to be discovered. Years ago, two teenage boys, Jeremy and Rafe, were lost for months after disappearing on a field trip to Red Crow State Park. They returned unable to tell anyone about where they had been. Now, Rafe is a recluse haunted by psychological issues, and Jeremy is known for his ability to track down lost girls. That's how Emilie Wendel finds them: she needs their help to find her sister, who disappeared into Red Crow years before they did. The three of them set off on a mystical journey that will have them all confront their childhood memories, traumas, and first loves. Shaffer (The Wishing Game, 2023) writes an uplifting, queer story about confronting childhood abuse and dark memories through storytelling, friendship, and finding a place where you belong. Between the realistic, warm characters and the emotional primary story line, this novel is a successful, low-stakes fantasy read.
Kirkus Book Review
Three lost souls search for a missing woman. When best friends Ralph "Rafe" Howell and Jeremy Cox were teenagers, they went missing in the woods of West Virginia for six months. Now, 15 years later, the two are estranged. Rafe lives in a cabin and spends his days hunting, painting, and being generally hermitic. Jeremy has an uncanny, almost supernatural ability to find lost people, and spends his time finding lost girls. Enter Emilie Wendell. Emilie's adoptive mother recently died and, in her search to ease her loneliness, Emilie uploaded her DNA to a website that matched her with a half-sister she didn't know existed. Here's the catch: Emilie's sister, Shannon Yates, went missing years ago in the same forest as Rafe and Jeremy. Emilie shows up to a TV interview Jeremy is doing and demands he help find her sister. Jeremy agrees and reveals a secret: Shannon, better known to him as Skya, is the queen of a magical land called Shanandoah. As it turns out, Jeremy and Rafe weren't lost in the woods those many years ago but were spending their days galivanting around the secret magical kingdom whose entrance is in the forest. To return they need to enlist the help of Rafe, whose memories of Shanandoah and, more heartbreakingly, the love he held for Jeremy were erased when they left the magical world. After quite a bit of convincing, Rafe reluctantly agrees to help. What unfolds is an adventure filled with sword fights, romance, and gut-wrenching stories of the dark past that led the boys to the forest in the first place. Shaffer's depictions of Emilie and Skya fall almost completely flat. That said, she makes up for it with the tender love between Jeremy and Rafe and the magical depiction of the world they once left behind. Like all the best fairy tales: nostalgic with an undercurrent of darkness. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.