« Stay » Nicola Griffith

Stay opens with Aud, normally the epitome of cool–under–fire contained competence, disintegrating with grief and guilt over the violent death of her lover. These emotions are new to her, and she has moved deep into the North Carolina woods, away from people, afraid of what she might do if pushed. Into her refuge comes her oldest friend asking an impossible favor: to track down his missing fiancee, a woman Aud despises. The police won’t take his concern seriously, and Aud an ex–cop whose sense of right and wrong has little respect for the law is the only person he can turn to for help. But to follow the woman’s trail to New York City, she must leave the shelter of her trees and confront a series of physical, moral, and emotional challenges that she has been dodging for weeks, months, and years. None of her choices are easy.