Darlene Carter was always a strong woman. But after suddenly losing her mother to a deadly virus, she is left anchorless while struggling to navigate the pandemic with her teenaged daughter. Isolated, and alone in grief, Darlene reluctantly takes on her mother’s pursuit to find familial connections. As restrictions lift, the two travel to Newfoundland to follow a DNA trail in search of answers.

The family holds more than Darlene is prepared for. As she delves into a series of century-old journals that hold tales of her ancestors Doctors Peter and Mary Nolan, she begins to feel an unlikely kinship with Peter. Journey with Darlene, through Peter and Mary’s lives, as she links clues from yesteryear to modern-day DNA evidence, weaving them into the family tapestry of her Nolan roots. But when she is about to uncover the final threads, she fears her ancestors may have taken them to their graves.

Can she unlock the secrets of the past? Battling to remain neutral in the chaos of post-pandemic Newfoundland, will Darlene embrace the true meaning of belonging and family like Peter and Mary write about, or is proof the only remedy for her fractured heart?

First and foremost, Ida Linehan Young is a grandmother to the most precious little boys, Parker and Samuel, a mother to three adult children, Sharon, Stacey, and Shawna, and a wife to Thomas. In her busy daily life, Ida works in the information technology sector of the federal government of Canada, and she volunteers her time in the community of Conception Bay South with the Kiwanis Club of Kelligrews. Ida had a fascination with writing in her high school days, when she dabbled in poetry and essays. In 2012, she became serious about her writing with a story to tell, and that led to her memoir, No Turning Back: Surviving the Linehan Family Tragedy, in 2014. Having found a passion for writing, and with a love of local history and lore, she published four works of historical fiction: Being Mary Ro (2018), The Promise (2019), The Liars (2020), and The Stolen Ones (2021). In June 2021, the first three novels were issued the Silver Medal for Best Series—Fiction by the Independent Publisher Book Awards. The fourth novel in the series, The Stolen Ones, won the NL Reads 2022 competition and the Margaret Duley Award. The novel was also a 2022 Bronze Medal Winner (Historical Fiction) of the eLit Awards, presented by the Jenkins Group. Ida’s second work of non-fiction, If I Cry I’ll Fill the Ocean, appeared on the Globe and Mail bestsellers list. In 2023, Ida published her first work of speculative fiction, The Room Upstairs, which appeared on the Atlantic Books Today bestsellers list. With strong influences from the familial art of storytelling passed down by her father, Ed Linehan, and her maternal grandfather, Frank Power, Ida writes stories about her beloved province, Newfoundland and Labrador. She enjoys researching events of the late nineteenth century and weaving fictional characters through historical tales that complement that cultural richness, renewing interest in the province’s storied past. Sometimes she writes across different genres just to tell a story.

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