The Mourning Hours

The Mourning Hours
Paula Treick DeBoard

A family’s loyalty is put to the ultimate test…Kirsten Hammarstrom hasn’t been home to her tiny corner of rural Wisconsin in years – not since the mysterious disappearance of a local teenage girl rocked the town and shattered her family. Kirsten was just nine years old when Stacy Lemke went missing, and the last person to see her alive was her boyfriend, Johnny – the high school wrestling star and Kirsten’s older brother. No one knows what to believe – not even those closest to Johnny – but the event unhinges the quiet farming community and pins Kirsten’s family beneath the crushing weight of suspicion.Now, years later, a new tragedy forces Kirsten and her siblings to return home, where they must confront the devastating event that shifted the trajectory of their lives.Tautly written and beautifully evocative, The Mourning Hours is a gripping portrayal of a family straining against extraordinary pressure, and a powerful tale of loyalty, betrayal and forgiveness.

A family’s loyalty is put to the ultimate test

Kirsten Hammarstrom hasn’t been home to her tiny corner of rural Wisconsin in years—not since the mysterious disappearance of a local teenage girl rocked the town and shattered her family. Kirsten was just nine years old when Stacy Lemke went missing, and the last person to see her alive was her boyfriend, Johnny—the high school wrestling star and Kirsten’s older brother. No one knows what to believe—not even those closest to Johnny—but the event unhinges the quiet farming community and pins Kirsten’s family beneath the crushing weight of suspicion.

Now, years later, a new tragedy forces Kirsten and her siblings to return home, where they must confront the devastating event that shifted the trajectory of their lives. Tautly written and beautifully evocative, The Mourning Hours is a gripping portrayal of a family straining against extraordinary pressure, and a powerful tale of loyalty, betrayal and forgiveness.

The Mourning Hours

Paula Treick DeBoard

www.mirabooks.co.uk (http://www.mirabooks.co.uk)

For my Tea Time friends, because I always said I would.

Contents

Prologue (#u1fed0439-e36f-5e37-ada4-e24fc62837fe)

Chapter One (#u0e723e1c-cffb-5640-b78a-8db3e7c5adf5)

Chapter Two (#u086c4acf-5a98-54c7-b009-c0101fe214f7)

Chapter Three (#u6e4d333e-20bd-5fd9-b368-c9e5fb09fd2c)

Chapter Four (#u4c6a1f47-31e3-547c-8229-3690bd25e4a2)

Chapter Five (#uc37f106f-f7ae-5fec-9e12-debf6becb526)

Chapter Six (#u71d8c912-533e-5dd8-af96-2beb923e4627)

Chapter Seven (#u4faf478d-d64d-5bf9-a4fa-4b8519b7bf5e)

Chapter Eight (#uc36bf458-375f-5779-905d-cadc81a6e472)

Chapter Nine (#u05bbc4d6-49f5-5705-89e1-1619ed025fdd)

Chapter Ten (#ub6206bea-22d0-5663-9c3f-44e022fad2f8)

Chapter Eleven (#u31ca250f-cfba-5031-b7ba-34f8287f495b)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)