A Winter Wonderland

A lost girl. A boy who notices her. A family ready to open their hearts.

Twelve-year-old Lila has learned how to disappear.

After being separated from her mother, she is alone on the streets of a small town in the middle of a bitter winter. She has no home, no one to protect her, and only a small stone her mother gave her for luck. Each night she searches for somewhere safe to sleep, careful to avoid the adults who might ask too many questions.

Then, beneath the Christmas lights, a boy named Evan notices her.

Evan doesn't know who Lila is or why she is alone. He only knows that she is cold and hungry. A simple act of kindness — an invitation to see the Christmas lights and a cinnamon roll shared with a stranger — becomes the beginning of something neither child could have expected.

But someone else is looking for Lila.

As Evan and his parents try to find the frightened girl, they discover that her disappearance is more complicated than it first appears. Lila must decide whether she can risk trusting them, while the adults around her try to uncover the truth and keep her safe.

Set against a snowy Christmas backdrop, A Winter Wonderland is a heartwarming story about a missing child, unexpected friendship, kindness, family, grief and finding a place to belong.

For readers who enjoy heartwarming Christmas stories, emotional family fiction, children's and middle-grade fiction, stories about friendship and kindness, and uplifting tales of hope and new beginnings, this gentle winter story is a reminder that sometimes home isn't the place you've lost.

Sometimes, it's the place you find.