Julia is in limbo. Her mother has just died and her married lover, Nicholas, has gone missing in Morocco. Thirsting for love, for sex, for connection, she grasps at the trailing threads of those who have left her behind: a birth certificate, issued two years before she was born and kept secret from her; and memories of Nicholas, his touch, his scent, his every action consuming her waking moments and filling her lonely nights.

Her need to fill the void is so great that when Deepa, Nicholas's wife, walks through her door, they begin a passionate affair, carried along by desire and desperation. This — along with the mysterious birth certificate — leads Julia to question where she fits in other peoples’ lives, and where she has fallen through the cracks.

ELISE MOSER was born in Brooklyn and spent her childhood in small-town New Jersey. She moved to Montreal and did an English degree at McGill University, then worked at Paragraphe Bookstore for many years. She went on to become a long-time sales rep for American university presses.

Elise’s short stories have been published in Canada and the US, and her adult novel, Because I Have Loved and Hidden It, was praised by the National Post as “[an] ambitious and artfully woven debut novel.” Her young adult novel, Lily and Taylor, received a starred review from Kirkus.

Elise was president of the Quebec Writers’ Federation (2009–2012) and is also an editor. She presently divides her time between Montreal and Sauk City, Wisconsin.

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