What if you were riding along a highway at night in a foreign country with your father, and he suffered a heart attack? What if no one stopped as you desperately tried to flag down help? And what if, instead of going to the police, the two men in the car that finally picked you up kept on driving?

These are the happenings that open Donna Jo Napoli's thrilling new book. Taking us to present-day Italy, she tells the story of eleven-year-old Jackie from Minnesota. After bringing the girl to a house in remote hilly country, the men disappear, and Jackie is left alone with a lovely woman who reminds her a little of her own mother back in the U.S. Over the three days the book takes place, Jackie realizes that something terrible has happened to these three people, and she must find out what, because that holds the key to her release.

Alternating terse, compelling prose to track the action with sensual descriptions of the Italian scenes, the award-winning novelist brings to life the world in which Jackie finds herself for three days. During their short time together, she comes to understand that although she and the woman, Claudia, share no language, what they do share is a deep humanity.