The dangers of Alaska aren't limited to storms, starvation, and grizzly bears. Sometimes the most dangerous thing is the person you love.
It’s summer in Alaska and the light surrounding the shipping-container-turned-storage shed where Liv Russo is being held prisoner is fuzzy and gray. Around her is thick forest and jagged mountains. In front of her, across a clearing, is a low-slung cabin with a single window that spills a wash of yellow light onto bare ground. Illuminated in that light is the father of her child, a man she once loved. A man who is now her jailor. Liv vows to do anything to escape.
Carrying her own secrets and a fierce need to protect her young son, Liv must navigate a new world where extreme weather, starvation, and dangerous wildlife are not the only threats she faces. With winter's arrival imminent, she knows she must reckon with her past and the choices that brought her to the unforgiving Alaskan landscape if she is ever going to make it out alive.
A story of survival in the wilds of Alaska, The Beautiful and the Wild explores the question of whether we can ever truly know the person we love—or ourselves.
Genre: Mystery
It’s summer in Alaska and the light surrounding the shipping-container-turned-storage shed where Liv Russo is being held prisoner is fuzzy and gray. Around her is thick forest and jagged mountains. In front of her, across a clearing, is a low-slung cabin with a single window that spills a wash of yellow light onto bare ground. Illuminated in that light is the father of her child, a man she once loved. A man who is now her jailor. Liv vows to do anything to escape.
Carrying her own secrets and a fierce need to protect her young son, Liv must navigate a new world where extreme weather, starvation, and dangerous wildlife are not the only threats she faces. With winter's arrival imminent, she knows she must reckon with her past and the choices that brought her to the unforgiving Alaskan landscape if she is ever going to make it out alive.
A story of survival in the wilds of Alaska, The Beautiful and the Wild explores the question of whether we can ever truly know the person we love—or ourselves.
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"Wow, wow, wow. Townsend explores the lengths we go to keep loved ones safe as well as how memory and perception change over time. Filled with secrets, dark terrain, and hope, The Beautiful and the Wild kept me guessing until the end. Propulsive and addictive." - Janet Skeslien Charles
"Page-turning. Exhilarating. Unforgettable. I read The Beautiful and the Wild in one riveting gulp. It's both compelling psychological suspense and a wise contemplation of the destructive power of secrets - not just those kept from us by others, but also secrets we keep from ourselves." - Meg Waite Clayton
"The Beautiful and the Wild by Peggy Townsend is a gripping, edge-of-your-seat Alaskan wilderness survival story and so much more; a brilliantly insightful and compelling dysfunctional family drama that kept me turning the pages at warp speed. I loved this book!" - Karen Dionne
"Townsend has written a breath-stopping, heart-thumping, page-turning, keep-you-up-at-night story. Wild is the word." - Karen Joy Fowler
"From its gripping beginning to its unexpected and totally satisfying conclusion, Peggy Townsend's The Beautiful and the Wild is a fast-paced, event-packed story. Liv Russo's life has already held more than its share of adversity, but the challenges she confronts when she and her young son arrive at a remote Alaskan homestead are far more than she could ever have imagined. Liv's fight to survive, protect her son, and learn more about the secrets that have shaped her life kept me reading long past my bedtime." - Jean Hegland
"The Beautiful and the Wild probes the darkest corners of human heart; in the context of a marriage gone wrong, it's hard to imagine anything more terrifying. Townsend's masterfully written novel takes us to a harrowing past informing an even more treacherous present, chilling and unforgettable." - Elizabeth McKenzie
"A pulse-pounding novel of captivity, survival and deceit, The Beautiful and the Wild kept me guessing about Liv Russo's mysterious past as well as her precarious future. I needed to know how her story ended, even as I didn't want it to end." - Ana Reyes
"In The Beautiful and the Wild, Townsend delivers a masterful, heartfelt, slow-burn literary thriller as unpredictable as the wilds of Alaska. A very smart page-turner, driven by a fierce, complex heroine." - Michelle Richmond
"Page-turning. Exhilarating. Unforgettable. I read The Beautiful and the Wild in one riveting gulp. It's both compelling psychological suspense and a wise contemplation of the destructive power of secrets - not just those kept from us by others, but also secrets we keep from ourselves." - Meg Waite Clayton
"The Beautiful and the Wild by Peggy Townsend is a gripping, edge-of-your-seat Alaskan wilderness survival story and so much more; a brilliantly insightful and compelling dysfunctional family drama that kept me turning the pages at warp speed. I loved this book!" - Karen Dionne
"Townsend has written a breath-stopping, heart-thumping, page-turning, keep-you-up-at-night story. Wild is the word." - Karen Joy Fowler
"From its gripping beginning to its unexpected and totally satisfying conclusion, Peggy Townsend's The Beautiful and the Wild is a fast-paced, event-packed story. Liv Russo's life has already held more than its share of adversity, but the challenges she confronts when she and her young son arrive at a remote Alaskan homestead are far more than she could ever have imagined. Liv's fight to survive, protect her son, and learn more about the secrets that have shaped her life kept me reading long past my bedtime." - Jean Hegland
"The Beautiful and the Wild probes the darkest corners of human heart; in the context of a marriage gone wrong, it's hard to imagine anything more terrifying. Townsend's masterfully written novel takes us to a harrowing past informing an even more treacherous present, chilling and unforgettable." - Elizabeth McKenzie
"A pulse-pounding novel of captivity, survival and deceit, The Beautiful and the Wild kept me guessing about Liv Russo's mysterious past as well as her precarious future. I needed to know how her story ended, even as I didn't want it to end." - Ana Reyes
"In The Beautiful and the Wild, Townsend delivers a masterful, heartfelt, slow-burn literary thriller as unpredictable as the wilds of Alaska. A very smart page-turner, driven by a fierce, complex heroine." - Michelle Richmond
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