Wild

After a professional scandal destroys her reputation, child psychiatrist Julia Cates returns to the small Washington town where she grew up. Her sister Ellie, the local police chief, asks her to help a six-year-old girl found alone in the Olympic National Forest. The child cannot speak, reacts with fear to ordinary contact and offers no reliable clue to her identity.

Julia names her Alice and begins the slow work of establishing trust while investigators search for evidence about where she came from. The case draws national attention and forces Julia to defend both her methods and the child from people seeking a rapid explanation. As Alice’s history emerges, the novel becomes a story of recovery, chosen family and the ethical limits of rescuing someone whose past remains dangerous.