In Tongue of a Bird by Ellen McLaughlin, Maxine is a search-and-rescue pilot who returns to her childhood home in the unforgiving Adirondack Mountains to lead the search for Charlotte, a young girl abducted by a stranger during a school field trip.

As the search unfolds, the present-day mission begins to blur with fragmented memories, family ghosts, and the mysteries of Maxine’s past. Seemingly part ghost story and part psychological mystery, Tongue of a Bird is a haunting exploration of loss, memory, motherhood, and the desperate human need to be found.