There is a middle world between life and death, and Tess must navigate it to save her brother in this heart-wrenching story infused with the fractured and fantastical realms of Finnish mysticism.

Axel and Tess are bewildered when a stranger shows up in their backyard accompanied by a giant brown bear, but before they can investigate the bizarre encounter, something more harrowing happens: their father is killed in a freak car accident.

Now orphaned, Tess and Axel are shipped off to Finland to live with grandparents who they’ve never met, and are stunned to discover that the mysterious stranger with the bear has found them again. More stunning—they come to understand that this man isn’t really a man…he’s a keeper of souls. And the bear isn’t really a bear…it’s a ghost. Their mother’s ghost. Wandering, endlessly, searching for their father.

Then the Keeper invites Axel, who is fighting his symptoms of muscular dystrophy, to join the path of the dead—and when Axel disappears into the deep snow, Tess knows she must find a way to follow. There are mysteries connected to this peculiar man, this keeper, and if she can untangle them, she might not only save Axel, but also bring her parents peace.

After relocating to Finland following a family tragedy, a brother and sister find themselves entangled in the fractured and fantastical realms of Finnish mysticism in this atmospheric and emotionally resonant young adult novel.

Teenaged Tess and ten-year-old Axel don’t know what to think when a stranger shows up in their backyard accompanied by a giant brown bear. But the strangeness of the encounter is quickly swept aside when they receive the devastating news that their father has been killed in a freak car accident.

Having lost their mother years before, Tess and Axel are now orphans with nowhere to turn except to the maternal grandparents they’ve never met, who live in Finland. Axel takes the change in stride with determined optimism, but strong-willed Tess clashes with her strict grandmother and struggles to adjust.

But Finland has more in store for them as mystical forces begin to take notice of the new arrivals. Axel is followed everywhere by an empty wheelchair no one else sees—an ominous reminder of the muscular dystrophy he inherited from his mother and grandfather. And the man with the bear reappears.

The man calls himself a keeper of souls and claims the bear is the ghost of a loved one Tess and Axel have lost. Axel gets drawn deeper into the world of ghosts, haunted houses, and the afterlife, while Tess fights to keep their small family together. Can the siblings find a way to reconnect with each other and process their grief—or are will they lose each other in the unforgiving snow?

"Perfect for fans of the magic realism of A. S. King or Scott Westerfeld’s Afterworlds." -Booklist