“Superb and subtle psychological suspense.”—Lee Child
A haunting novel from the author of The Weight of Blood about a young woman’s return to her childhood home—and her
encounter with the memories and family secrets it holds
ITW THRILLER AWARD FINALIST
Arrowood is the most ornate and grand of the historical houses that line the Mississippi River in southern Iowa. But
the house has a mystery it has never revealed: It’s where Arden Arrowood’s younger twin sisters vanished on her watch
twenty years ago—never to be seen again. After the twins’ disappearance, Arden’s parents divorced and the Arrowoods left
the big house that had been in their family for generations. And Arden’s own life has fallen apart: She can’t finish her
master’s thesis, and a misguided love affair has ended badly. She has held on to the hope that her sisters are still
alive, and it seems she can’t move forward until she finds them. When her her dies and she inherits Arrowood, Arden
returns to her childhood home determined to discover what really happened to her sisters that traumatic summer.
Arden’s return to the town of Keokuk—and the now infamous house that bears her name—is greeted with curiosity. But she
is welcomed back by her old neighbor and first love, Ben Ferris, whose family, she slowly learns, knows more about the
Arrowoods’ secrets and their small, closed community than she ever realized. With the help of a young amateur
investigator, Arden tracks down the man who was the prime suspect in the kipping. But the house and the surrounding
town hold their secrets close—and the truth, when Arden finds it, is more devastating than she ever could have imagined.
Arrowood is a powerful and resonant novel that examines the ways in which our lives are shaped by memory. As with her
award-winning debut novel, The Weight of Blood, Laura McHugh has written a thrilling novel in which nothing is as it
seems, and in which our longing for the past can take hold of the present in insidious and haunting ways.
Praise for Arrowood
“This robust, old-fashioned gothic mystery has everything you’re looking for: a creepy old house, a tenant with a secret
history, and even a few ghosts. Laura McHugh’s novel sits at the intersection of memory and history, astutely asking
whether we carry the past or it carries us.”—Jodi Picoult
“An eloquently eerie tale.”—Booklist
“Poignant . . . lyrical.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A chilling, twisting tale of family, memory, and home . . . This engaging and thrilling tale about a young woman’s
homecoming, the vagaries of memory, and the impact of tragedy on both a town and a family is a terrific choice for Laura
Lippman and Sue Grafton readers.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“Part mystery, part drama, Arrowood offers a little of everything to readers in search of a satisfying story.”—St. Louis
Dispatch
“A pitch-perfect example of Southern Gothic”—The Times
“I cannot praise this book enough. It draws you in to the point you felt like someone you loved had disappeared and
you’re haunted by it. Laura McHugh did a brilliant job of showing us that our lives can be shaped by our memories and
that those are not always as accurate as we would believe.”—San Francisco Book Review