The Forgotten Hours

An Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestseller.

“A relevant, compelling, and compassionate look at the torture of conflicted loyalties and the slipperiness of truth.” ―Jenna Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us and The Lost Family

In this evocative debut novel, Katrin Schumann weaves a riveting story of past and present―and how love can lead us astray.

At twenty-four, Katie Gregory feels like life is looking up: she’s snagged a great job in New York City and is falling for a captivating artist―and memories of her traumatic past are finally fading. Katie’s life fell apart almost a decade earlier, during an idyllic summer at her family’s cabin on Eagle Lake when her best friend accused her father of sexual assault. Throughout his trial and imprisonment, Katie insisted on his innocence, dodging reporters and clinging to memories of the man she adores.

Now he’s getting out. Yet when Katie returns to the shuttered lakeside cabin, details of that fateful night resurface: the chill of the lake, the heat of first love, the terrible sting of jealousy. And as old memories collide with new realities, they call into question everything she thinks she knows about family, friends, and, ultimately, herself. Now, Katie’s choices will be put to the test with life-altering consequences.

Katrin Schumann studied languages at Oxford and journalism at Stanford, and she is the author of several nonfiction books. She has been awarded fiction residencies from the Vermont Studio Center, the Norman Mailer Writers Colony, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Schumann teaches writing at GrubStreet in Boston and was an instructor in PEN’s Prison Writing Program. She lives in Boston and Key West. For more information, visit www.katrinschumann.com.