"Filled with emotion. A winner of a story." -Tony Hillerman Debut novelists Sue Boggio and Mare Pearl join NAL Accent with a story of family, friendship, and what it really means to have hope... Life has never been better for Abby and Roberto Silva. Abby's restaurant is one of the most popular in San Diego. Their relationship is stronger than ever. But after a robbery at the restaurant leaves them deeply shaken-and they receive word of Bobby's father's death-everything changes. They move to Bobby's hometown, Esperanza, New Mexico, convinced that life will be simpler in this rural farming town whose very name means "hope." But there's a secret in Bobby's past, and on the first night in their new home, he goes out to deal with it. He never returns. And Abby begins to discover just how many secrets a heart-and a town-can hold...

Sue Boggio and Mare Pearl work at the University of New Mexico, Sue as a registered nurse and Mare as a mental health technician. They have been friends for 39 years and have won numerous writing contests and awards together. They have been active members of the Southwest Writers Workshop since 1993. This is their first novel.