Upper Michigan, 1820.
Jessie has spent years building a life that asks little of anyone but herself. Deep in the wilderness, she has found solitude, competence, and something close to peace-if not quite the healing she once hoped would come.
Then she finds Waaseyaa.
Injured, half-frozen, and far from home, the Ojibwe woman should be only another problem to solve. Jessie knows how to set a broken bone, tend a wound, keep a fire burning, and survive a northern winter. What she doesn't know is what to do with the woman recovering beside her-or with the quiet friendship taking root between them.
As days become weeks, the rhythms of survival give way to conversation, laughter, trust, and an intimacy neither woman expected. Waaseyaa must heal enough to make the journey home. Jessie must decide whether healing of another kind is worth risking the solitary life that has kept her safe.
Sometimes finding your way home begins with finding someone you never knew you were looking for.