Ashley Hawkins has always felt at home when she’s outside in nature. She’s grown up around the mountains and trails of Tennessee, and wilderness survival skills run in her blood. She even earned the nickname “Ass-kicker Ashley” from her old friend Davey—before he mysteriously disappeared on a solo hiking trip.
Unlike many of her friends, Ashley is intimately aware of the woods’ pragmatic ruthlessness, not just their potential for keggers and drunken hookups. Against her better judgment, Ashley agrees to go to the Smoky Mountains with friends for a weekend of hiking and partying—only to stumble upon her new boyfriend in a compromising position with his ex.
Stunned and heartbroken, Ashley flees into the night, completely alone, without her backpack, phone or even her shoes. When she suffers a fall in the darkness and her injuries cause her to become increasingly disoriented, the forest that’s always been a place of solace for her becomes instead a site of mortal danger. Will Ashley suffer the same fate as Davey?
Be Not Far From Me, a brutal survival tale from Edgar Award-winning author Mindy McGinnis (A Madness So Discreet, This Darkness Mine), doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the harsh realities Ashley encounters in the woods or the excruciating decisions she must make in order to stay alive. As Ashley summons reserves of strength she didn’t know she had, she also comes to terms with the difficult circumstances of her past that have made her stronger—and given her the resilience she will need to keep going.
Readers will be utterly captivated by Ashley’s harrowing, hopeful fight to survive.
