Tony Wirt and Ellen Won Steil in conversation

From the bestselling author of Just Stay Away comes a haunting thriller about a rising politician whose shadowy past threatens to end his career—and his future shot at the presidency.

What happens at the cabin stays at the cabin. Right?

Andrew Harrison “Harry” Leonard is destined for politics. Getting his start on the Rochester City Council, he quickly rose to become the youngest representative in Congress. Now the up-and-comer from Minnesota is on the brink of something big. If all goes well, he’ll be in perfect position to aim for the presidency.

Then a postcard arrives, blank except for the name on the address: Andy Leonard. Harry hasn’t used that name since high school. Krista Walsh, Harry’s chief of staff, recognizes his old moniker, and when he dodges questions about it, she wonders what he’s trying to hide. She soon discovers the lake pictured on the postcard holds secrets too.

Krista’s investigation into Harry’s past uncovers the truth of what happened one fateful teenage summer. But as disturbing details come to light, how far will Krista go to keep Harry’s career—and her own—headed to the top?

Tony Wirt was born in Lake Mills, IA, and got his first taste of publication in first grade, when his essay on Airplane II: The Sequel appeared in the Lake Mills Elementary School’s Creative Courier.

He's a graduate of the University of Iowa and spent nine years doing media relations in the Hawkeye Athletic Department. He's also been a sportswriter, movie ticket taker and Dairy Queen ice cream slinger who can still do the little curly thing on top of a soft serve cone.

He currently lives in Rochester, MN, with his wife and two daughters.

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The pieces of a troubled actress’s mysterious life come together in a riveting novel about family secrets and unspeakable lies by the bestselling author of Fortune.

Marlow Fin is as famous for her beauty and success as she is infamous for her past, some of which is a mystery even to her. Is the public ready for the truth? Is she?

In 1995, young Isla Baek finds an abandoned six-year-old Marlow in the woods near the Baek family’s lakeside cabin. With little memory of where she came from or how she got there, Marlow is soon adopted by the Baeks into a seemingly idyllic Midwest life as Isla’s enigmatic new sister. But no one is prepared for how unnerving and disruptive Marlow’s presence will be over the years. Nor could any of them have foreseen the shocking tragedy that upended all their lives forever.

Now the whole world is watching as Marlow reveals everything in a hotly anticipated prime-time interview. In her harrowing story, spanning decades, the truth finally emerges—about Marlow herself, the damages of family secrets, and the unthinkable things people do in the name of love.

Ellen Won Steil is the bestselling author of Fortune and the forthcoming Becoming Marlow Fin. She grew up in Iowa in a Korean-American family and earned her BA in journalism from Drake University and law degree from William Mitchell College of Law. She lives in Minnesota with her husband and two young sons. Ellen believes most good stories have at least a hint of darkness.

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