This is longlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orang
e). Anna is five. Her little brother, Stick, is almost three.
They are campin
g with their parents in Algonquin Park, in three thousand square miles of wilder
ness. It's the perfect family trip. But then Anna awakes in the night to the sou
nd of something moving in the shadows.
Her father is terrified. Her mother is
screaming. Then, silence.
Alone in the woods, it is Anna who has to look aft
er Stick, battling hunger and the elements to stay alive. Narrated by Anna, this
is white-knuckle storytelling that captures the fear, wonder and bewilderment o
f our worst nightmares - and the power of one girl's enduring love for her famil
y.
