A dark, atmospheric literary thriller set in the forests of southern Italy, where the search for a missing child exposes a hidden network of guilt and silence.

A journey into the dark side of love and redemption.

Caterina has not heard from her father for some time. When she travels to his remote house in the forests of the Sila mountains in Calabria, she does not find him. Instead, she discovers the body of his neighbour, shot in the face. The child who lived there with the man and his wife, Agata, has vanished.

Suspicion quickly falls on Caterina’s father, a reclusive loner consumed by extreme beliefs and now missing himself, though she is certain he is innocent. As Caterina and Agata venture into the woods in search of their loved ones, an old legend resurfaces: the Red Wolf, a creature said to rule the forest and steal children. A tale whispered to frighten—or perhaps to protect—after other children disappeared without explanation.

As the search turns into a race against time, buried crimes emerge, revealing a world of secrets, complicity, and denial – where no one is innocent, not even those who want to save others.

pp.208