OUT OF RANGE

Lost in the woods, feuding sisters confront their deteriorating relationship while trying to survive.

The story opens with 14-year-old Abby, 12-year-old Emma, and 9-year-old Ollie on a disciplinary hike with their camp counselor. When the counselor leaves them to scout the trail, Abby decides to return to camp, with Emma and Ollie reluctantly following. Soon lost, the presumably White sisters flee from a forest fire down to a river, where Emma falls in and is swept away and Ollie vanishes trying to follow her, leaving Abby on her own. In the ensuring hours, Emma nearly drowns, Ollie injures her ankle, and Abby encounters a bear. Their harrowing, sparring, lost-in-the-woods present-day drama alternates with critical backstory from each sister’s perspective. A recent family relocation from California to Utah has left Abby friendless; after joining the cross country team, she abandons Emma. Equally displaced, Emma’s hurt Abby has ditched her, while Ollie pretends to not mind moving but resents being ignored by both her sisters. Their feelings culminate in a series of cruel, humiliating pranks against one another. The artful movement of plot between past and present gradually reveals why they have been sent to camp together. In this story that blends nail-biting adventure with a relationship story, siblings learn through being physically lost and forced to face life-threatening danger that they can discover who they are and what really matters.

A realistic, riveting survival story.