After completing her last year of high school, Amber takes a job as a carer in an old people’s home. A country girl, she has remained in her hometown to work while her best friend has moved away for university. Amber quickly becomes familiar with her new job – she’s compassionate and hardworking, befriending co-workers and bonding with residents.

When a mysterious boy named Jack Chant begins to appear around the nursing home and her family’s farm property, Amber is charmed, but impossible and often troubling things always seem to happen in his presence. Jack’s past is revealed as the novel progresses, giving Amber the clues she needs to understand who he really is. This is a mysterious and compassionate novel exploring life and death, friendship and community.

Kim Gruschow