One Week in August

When a child goes missing the day after the murder of a mother, the Northern community of Berton explodes with concern and fear. Anna Freemont, a child protection worker, feels weighty responsibility to fulfill her responsibilities and save the children. All of the children. Feeling the grief of her widowed, childless life through the terrible traumas, the newly minted social worker looks for purpose in her job, in her relationships and in her most secret thoughts. Anna and her brother Jimmy, a community RCMP officer, climb the mountain of trauma brought to the community by a deranged mind. Mired in a new tragedy every day, their foothold on the slippery steps of mystery are anxious and tenuous. Professional personas crack and tensions run high. Mornings are met by the question "What could happen next?" Gossip and innuendo grow within the community while many parents hold their children close. Will more children disappear? Through the seven days of questions and trauma, life continues. Children are harmed by parents and siblings, foster families struggle through, other crimes are committed, and personal weakness is exposed. Enter the world of neglect, foster care, addictions and residential school repercussions. Grab on to the hope of the few strong and brave who work to change the lives of marginalized families. Insert yourself into the search, along with other likely suspects. Are the answers closer to home than they think? The look of evil is as ordinary as the girl next door and as frightening as the obscured monster in the closet. One week, seven days of heat, of pain, of death, of devastation. A secret plan well kept...until it is exposed. *This novel is also a learning manual for the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, with each person assigned a type. Want more information? Contact the author.