What happens when a father disappears? How are the empty spaces of an absence filled?

In 1979, Otto Sinclair flees in the wake of a tragic fire, leaving his family to sort through the ashes. Twenty-eight years later, he comes back to them: his wife Lenore, a kept woman in mourning with a box of memories in the trunk of her car; his daughter Ruby, who peoples her world with the imaginary and the unattainable; his son Gavin, confined in a prison of his own creation; and the ghost of his mother, dead on the third floor of the house he burned down.

A single act of desperation can echo for decades. Now, a wounded family struggles to answer one final question: is it possible to forgive when it's impossible to forget?

Praise for Absent

"A searing look at family dynamics and how tragedy and misunderstanding can echo for decades. Sherri Vanderveen reveals the secret—and the soul—of Absent with insight and precision."
—Kate Jacobs, New York Times bestselling author

"Honest to the core, Sherri Vanderveen's Absent is a moving, heart-changing journey through memories and family secrets. This is a tale you won't soon forget."
—Ami McKay, author of The Birth House