Jule n "Jude" Tholet has survival in his DNA. His father, Cleon, lived through imprisonment and torture during Pinochet's military coup in Chile. His mother, Penny, risked everything to gain her husband's freedom and flee the country with their newborn son. But as a closeted gay teenager growing up in Vancouver, Jude is targeted by a neighborhood bully called El C ndor, culminating in a vicious hate crime that forces the Tholets to flee their country again.Jude cautiously rebuilds his life in Seattle, becoming an accomplished pianist, but his his wings have been clipped and he cannot seem to soar in his relationships. Only family remains a constant source of strength and joy, until a DNA test reveals something that shocks all the Tholets: Jude is not their child.

Stunned by the test results, the Tholets must dig into their painful past, re-examine their lives in 1973 Santiago and the events surrounding Jude's birth story. It's a tale rooted in South America's Operation Condor. It spreads through Pinochet's terrifying regime of detention camps, torture, disappeared civilians and stolen children. The journey forces Penny Tholet to confront the gaps in her memory while Cleon must re-live an ordeal he's long kept hidden away in a secret world. The tale ends with Jude digging through his genetic code in a quest to find his biological parents. Are they alive? Or are they among Los Desaparecidos--the Disappeared Ones?

Suanne Laqueur's third book in the Venery series explores the desperate acts of love made in times of war, and the many ways family can be defined.

About the Author
Laqueur, Suanne: - A former professional dancer and teacher, Suanne Laqueur went from choreographing music to choreographing words. Becoming an avid reader, cook and gardener, she started her blog EatsReadsThinks in 2010 and published her debut novel, The Man I Love, in 2014. Her fourth novel An Exaltation of Larks was the grand prize winner in the 2017 Writer's Digest Book Awards and took first place in the 2019 North Street Book Prize. Laqueur graduated from Alfred University with a double major in dance and theater. She taught at the Carol Bierman School of Ballet Arts in Croton-on-Hudson for ten years, while working as a business analyst for Verizon. She now works in publishing and lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband and two children.