At the center of this engrossing literary historical novel with a touch of mystery is a boy, Jack Boulton, and the lengths adults will go to assure his future. William, his father, is a skilled woodsman and the Ridgerunner, an infamous robber accomplished in the use of dynamite. Nearing 50, he lives in a remote cabin somewhere outside Banff with the civilization-wary Mary Boulton, his much younger wife, whom he adores, and Jack, their beloved 12-year-old son. It's 1917, and WWI has inflamed the world, with small tendrils reaching all the way to the Canadian wilderness. Their idyllic life is upended when Mary and Jack fall ill, and Mary dies. Sister Beatrice, aka Emilia Cload, a family friend in Banff who is on self-declared leave of absence from the convent, takes Jack in. William lights out on a crime spree, driven to build a nest egg to give Jack a better life. But Emilia has her own plans for Jack. Adamson (The Outlander, 2008) immerses readers in life as it was a century ago with attention to details about horses, wolves, bears, the weather, and all of nature, including the light and dark of human nature. Her sly plotting never quits, luring the reader into shocking surprises.