Sycamore

A body, and an unsolved mystery, resurface in an Arizona town in this poignant page-turner: “Begins quietly, quickly gains momentum, and ends explosively.” —Library Journal (starred review)

Out for a hike one scorching afternoon in Sycamore, Arizona, a newcomer to town stumbles across what appear to be human remains embedded in the wall of a dry desert ravine. As news of the discovery makes its way around town, Sycamore’s longtime residents fear the bones may belong to Jess Winters, the teenage girl who disappeared suddenly some eighteen years earlier, an unsolved mystery that has soaked into the porous rock of the town and haunted it ever since. In the days it takes the authorities to make an identification, the residents rekindle stories, rumors, and recollections both painful and poignant as they revisit Jess’s troubled history. In resurrecting the past, the people of Sycamore will find clarity, unexpected possibility, and a way forward for their lives.

Skillfully interweaving multiple points of view, Sycamore is a coming-of-age story, a mystery, and a moving exploration of the elemental forces that drive human nature—desire, loneliness, grief, love, forgiveness, and hope—as witnessed through the inhabitants of one small Southwestern town. 

“Masterful . . . both propulsive and perfectly composed.” —Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times–bestselling author of Good Company

“Takes readers beyond a standard whodunit and provides a more compelling take on what the experience does to the town.” —St. Louis Post- Dispatch

“A movingly written, multivoiced novel examining how one tragic circumstance can sow doubt about fundamental things.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Hypnotic.” —O, The Oprah Magazine

A Southwest Book of the Year, Pima County Public Library