j. w. kitson

After a gruesome murder, Phillip must finally face Michael alone for the first time in several months. His greatest fear is whether he can find any forgiveness for the years he remained silent, allowing his younger brother to suffer at the hands of Tony, their sadistic father.

Years before the killing, Tony accidentally discovers a letter written to his wife, proving that she had a passionate relationship with someone named Samuel. This forces him to consider the humiliating possibility that Michael may not be his son. Consumed with rage, Tony's only ambition is to destroy the possible evidence of his wife’s affair.

When Michael is nearly sixteen years old, he becomes the victim of a cruel, senseless prank, which leaves him barely alive. While sitting alone in the hospital with his brother, Phillip is tormented by reoccurring memories he can’t seem to escape, and just when he realizes the hopelessness of his life without Michael, Samuel—the man who wrote the letter to the boys’ mother—arrives at the hospital. Samuel soon finds himself confronted with the terrifying reality that he may have missed his only chance to meet the young man he suspects is his son.

Regardless of the fierce risks to his own family, Samuel—along with his heroic wife—refuse to abandon the boys to their barbaric life. These courageous outsiders quickly realize that Phillip and Michael have only known hatred in their lives, and they want nothing more than to offer the brothers a chance to learn that love conquers all things—a reality Phillip must embrace if he is ever going to make peace with Michael, and himself, especially after the brutal death that changed everything.