The Lost Girl of Craven County

Brought together by chance, bound together by secrets. A decade into the Great Depression, Millicent Green is a twenty-five-year-old "old maid" living with her marriage-obsessed mother and domineering older brother in the stiflingly small Jewish community of New Bern, North Carolina. Smart and prickly, she's struggling to find her place in the world following the loss of her beloved younger brother, and with him, her dreams for the future. One humid August day, Millie is sent to run an errand and discovers a young woman unconscious on the ground. This mystery woman, mute and without identification, will upend Millie's life. Together, they set out on a quest that will lay bare some of the twentieth century's most shameful episodes. From a historic river town to the hinterlands of rural North Carolina, The Lost Girl of Craven County delves into the impossibility of burying secrets forever. It's a story of love, loss, and-above all-the indelible, world-moving power of female friendship.

Emily Matchar is the author of In the Shadow of the Greenbrier and The Lost Girl of Craven County. She's written for many publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Outside, Smithsonian, and The Atlantic. She has a bachelor's degree in English from Harvard University, and has taught writing at the University of North Carolina and the University of Hong Kong. Originally from North Carolina, she lives with her husband and two sons.