These Silent Woods

No family, no power, no way to communicate with the outside world. Cooper has been living alone in a secluded cabin in the northern Appalachian mountains with his little daughter Finch for the last eight years. And because Cooper has a lot to conceal, that's just how he wants things to proceed. Finch was up surrounded by the beautiful but harsh wilderness code of conduct and the literature that line the cabin's shelves. However, Cooper's protected existence is beginning to backfire on her, and he's still tormented by the awful reality of what it took to bring them there.

The only people who know they exist are Cooper's old buddy Jake, who comes to see them every winter with supplies and food, and a strange local hermit by the name of Scotland. However, Jake fails to show up this year, which starts an irrevocable sequence of events that makes their difficult condition even more apparent. The lines separating their safe haven have suddenly blurred, and when a stranger enters their woods, Finch's developing fascination with her may put them all in jeopardy. Cooper must choose between continuing to live in hiding and eventually owning up to his previous transgressions as a startling disappearance threatens to upend the only life Finch has ever known.

These Silent Woods is a moving tale of survival, sacrifice, and the lengths a parent will go to when all seems lost. It is vividly evocative and expertly suspenseful.