The Van Laar Preserve has already claimed one child — and nobody who was there during the search for Bear has recovered. We start to get a sense of what happened to Bear, who helped, and who might be carry secrets into his mysterious disappearance.

Fourteen years later, Barbara Van Laar is now missing, and the timelines are colliding. We travel from a seventeen-year-old Alice being swept into a marriage with a twenty-nine-year-old Peter Van Laar (woof), through the haunting search for Bear, and back to present day where Barbara is missing - or is she?

We discuss age gap relationships, sex education, and what black flies actually symbolize.

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We read books so you don't have to — but you can. Part comedy, part literary chaos — welcome to the group chat. Non-readers, listen weekly for chapter summaries. Readers, check out our Reader Calendar (pinned to socials) to read along with us.

>> Next pages: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore | p.153-219