A Place of Refuge

She only remembers dying.

In 1971, a near-fatal automobile accident throws Izzy Monroe’s life into upheaval after she survives with a traumatic brain injury that leaves her with no short-term memory.

Adrift and despairing, Izzy is confronted by her best friend and persuaded to find the courage to redefine herself. She leaves the safe but smothering confines of home and ventures to Italy to work on a farm.

As she begins to take tentative steps in a new direction, she encounters Daniel Richetelli, a troubled Jesuit priest who has returned to his grandfather’s farm seeking a respite from his own crisis.

Battered by family expectations, guilt, betrayal, and self-doubt, Izzy and Daniel struggle to reconcile their immediate and compelling intimacy with their search for new and fulfilling lives.