What Happened Then

A house on a remote island. A broken family. A decades-old secret.

Can a secret that’s haunted this family for generations be untangled over the course of one summer? In this alternating narrative by indie bestselling author Erin Soderberg Downing, when cousins Avery and Jax dredge up the dark history from their parents’ childhood, they’ll have to decide whether some secrets are better left buried.

When a large, estranged family is mysteriously summoned together for a gathering at their broken-down family home on Crooked Lake, cousins Avery and Jax are the only ones who can find reasons to be excited about it.

But not long after they all arrive on the island, the family learns a horrible surprise: their beloved aunt has been diagnosed with ALS, and by the end of the summer, the island that’s been a part of their family for generations is going up for sale. Now, the reunion they’d been hoping for is quickly feeling more like a final farewell. Unless Avery and Jax can do something about it...

As the two cousins begin to dig through generations of history in the long-abandoned house, they also begin to dredge up a dark secret. There are pieces of their aunt’s journal scattered around the island, giving them a glimpse into the summer where it happened. The bad thing that drove their family apart. As secrets are unraveled and guilt and mistaken blame are revealed, the truth about what happened on one tragic night might destroy everything this family has begun to build during their final summer on Crooked Lake. Unless, perhaps, it could be the ointment this family needs to heal a wound that they all share.

Erin Soderberg Downing grew up exploring the forests and lakes of Northern Minnesota, and to this day, her best ideas for stories often come to her deep in the woods, where she can find plenty of creative space to explore and imagine. She has written more than fifty books, including The Great Peach Experiment series (a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection), the magical middle-grade novel Moon Shadow, and the Puppy Pirates chapter book series. Erin currently lives in Minneapolis with her husband, three adventurous kids, and two very fluffy dogs.