Elijah has lived in the Memory Wood for as long as he can remember. It´s the only home he´s ever known. Elissa has only just arrived. And she´ll do everything she can to escape. When Elijah stumbles across thirteen-year-old Elissa, in the woods where her abductor is hiding her, he refuses to alert the police. Because in his twelve years, Elijah has never had a proper friend. And he doesn´t want Elissa to leave. Not only that, Elijah knows how this can end. After all, Elissa isn´t the first girl he´s found inside the Memory Wood. As her abductor´s behaviour grows more erratic, chess prodigy Elissa realises that outwitting strange, lonely Elijah is her only hope of survival. Their cat-and-mouse game of deception and betrayal will determine both their fates, and whether either of them will ever leave the Memory Wood . . .