Rene Denfeld

From the highly praised author of The Child Finder and The Enchanted comes The Butterfly Girl, a riveting novel that ripples with truth, exploring the depths of love and sacrifice in the face of a past that cannot be left dead and buried. A year ago, Naomi, the investigator with an uncanny ability for finding missing children, made a promise that she would not take another case until she finds the younger sister who has been missing for years. Naomi has no picture, not even a name. All she has is a vague memory of a strawberry field at night, black dirt under her bare feet as she ran for her life.The search takes her to Portland, Oregon, where scores of homeless children wander the streets like ghosts, searching for money, food, and companionship. The sharp-eyed investigator soon discovers that young girls have been going missing for months, many later found in the dirty waters of the river. Though she does not want to get involved, Naomi is unable to resist the pull of children in need—and the fear she sees in the eyes of a twelve-year old girl named Celia. Running from an abusive stepfather and an addict mother, Celia has nothing but hope in the butterflies—her guides and guardians on the dangerous streets. She sees them all around her, tiny iridescent wisps of hope that soften the edges of this hard world and illuminate a cherished memory from her childhood—the Butterfly Museum, a place where everything is safe and nothing can hurt her.As danger creeps closer, Naomi and Celia find echoes of themselves in one another, forcing them each to consider the question: Can you still be lost even when you’ve been found? But will they find the answer too late?

A haunting, atmospheric, and deeply suspenseful novel from the acclaimed author of The Enchanted about an investigator who must use her unique insights to find a missing little girl."Where are you, Madison Culver? Flying with the angels, a silver speck on a wing? Are you dreaming, buried under snow? Or—is it possible—you are still alive?"Three years ago, Madison Culver disappeared when her family was choosing a Christmas tree in Oregon’s Skookum National Forest. She would be eight-years-old now—if she has survived. Desperate to find their beloved daughter, certain someone took her, the Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny talent for locating the lost and missing. Known to the police and a select group of parents as "the Child Finder," Naomi is their last hope.Naomi’s methodical search takes her deep into the icy, mysterious forest in the Pacific Northwest, and into her own fragmented past. She understands children like Madison because once upon a time, she was a lost girl, too.As Naomi relentlessly pursues and slowly uncovers the truth behind Madison’s disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce the defenses that have protected her, reminding her of a terrible loss she feels but cannot remember. If she finds Madison, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life?Told in the alternating voices of Naomi and a deeply imaginative child, The Child Finder is a breathtaking, exquisitely rendered literary page-turner about redemption, the line between reality and memories and dreams, and the human capacity to survive.

This is an enchanted place. Others don't see it, but I do.The enchanted place is an ancient stone prison, viewed through the eyes of a death row inmate who finds escape in his books and in re-imagining life around him, weaving a fantastical story of the people he observes and the world he inhabits. Fearful and reclusive, he senses what others cannot. Though bars confine him every minute of every day, he marries magical visions of golden horses running beneath the prison, heat flowing like molten metal from their backs, with the devastating violence of prison life.Two outsiders venture here: a fallen priest, and the Lady, an investigator who searches for buried information from prisoners' pasts that can save those soon-to-be-executed. Digging into the background of a killer named York, she uncovers wrenching truths that challenge familiar notions of victim and criminal, innocence and guilt, honour and corruption-ultimately revealing shocking secrets of her own.

From the bestselling author of The Child Finder and The Enchanted, a compelling and poignant story of sibling bonds, monsters masquerading as caretakers, terrifying secrets, and the power of love to right even the most egregious wrongs.Twenty years ago, a nine-year-old boy was swept away by powerful waves on a remote Oregon beach, his body lost to the sea. Only a stone memorial remains to mark his tragic death. For most of her life, Amanda Dufresne had no idea she had an older brother named Dennis Owens, or that he had died. Adopted as a baby, she learned about him while looking into her late birth mother, and is curious to know more about this lost sibling. A solitary young woman, Amanda has always felt distanced from the world around her. Her brain works differently from others, leaving her feeling set apart. Her one true companion is the orphaned polar bear she cares for working at the zoo. By getting to know her birth family, she hopes to understand more about herself. Retired police officer Larry Palmer is a widower with nothing but time and in need of a purpose. He offers to help Amanda find answers. The search leads to shocking and heartbreaking discoveries. Dennis Owen had been a forgotten foster child abandoned to a home for disturbed boys off the coast. As Amanda and Larry dig deeper into the past, the two stumble upon decades of cruelty and hidden crimes—including a barbaric treatment still used today. Told in Rene Denfeld’s inimitable style, Sleeping Giants is an enthralling and heartbreaking novel that burrows deep in the heart and will leave no reader untouched.

James Daniel Nelson first hit the streets as a teenager in 1992. He joined a clutch of runaways and misfits who camped out together in a squat under a Portland bridge. Within a few months the group—they called themselves a "family"—was arrested for a string of violent murders. While Nelson sat in prison, the society he had helped form grew into a national phenomenon. Street families spread to every city from New York to San Francisco, and to many small towns in between, bringing violence with them. In 2003, almost eleven years after his original murder, Nelson, now called "Thantos", got out of prison, returned to Portland, created a new street family, and killed once more. Twelve family members were arrested along with him. Rene Denfeld spent over a decade following the evolution of street family culture. She discovered that, contrary to popular belief, the majority of these teenagers hail from loving middle-class homes. Yet they have left those homes to form insular communities with cultish hierarchies, codes of behavior, languages, quasireligions, and harsh rules. She reveals the extremes to which desperate teenagers will go in their search for a sense of community, and builds a persuasive and troubling case that street families have grown among us into a dark reversal of the American ideal.

Journalist Rene Denfeld explains why her generation has become alienated from the women's movement, maintaining that the actions of the movement's current leadership have actually encouraged a return to the kind of sexual repression and political powerlessness challenged by feminists in the 1970s. Here she offers a practial battle plan which includes confronting the issues of child care and birth control, working for equal government representation, and treating sexual assault as a serious crime.

Drawing on research and her own experience in the boxing ring, the author shows how aggression equals success in every arena of life, debunks the idea that women are less aggressive, and shows women how to unleash their rage. Tour.

Vor drei Jahren, als ihre Familie nach einem Weihnachtsbaum in den frostigen Wäldern von Oregon suchte, verschwand Madison Culver. Drei Jahre - und immer noch keine Spur von der damals Fünfjährigen.Ist sie tot? Doch eine Leiche hat man bisher nicht finden können.Madisons Eltern wenden sich in ihrer Verzweiflung an die »Kinderfinderin« Naomi, eine Privatermittlerin mit dem unheimlichen Talent, Vermisste aufzuspüren. Da sie in ihrer Kindheit selbst einmal verschleppt wurde, kann sie sich besonders gut in solche Fälle hineinversetzen.Während Naomi nach und nach die schrecklichen Tatsachen im Fall Madison aufdeckt, durchdringen Scherben eines dunklen Traums ihre Erinnerung …Ein atemberaubender, literarischer Pageturner, erzählt mit den wechselnden Stimmen von Naomi und einem außergewöhnlich fantasievollen Kind.Publishers »Intensiv und einfallsreich, herzzerreißend und überraschend ... Der Schluss raubt den Lesern den letzten Atem.« »Ein ergreifend schöner, schauriger Roman über eine knallharte, lebensechte Heldin.« »Denfelds Roman greift auf Elemente des Horrors, des Krimis, des Märchens und sogar der Liebesgeschichte zurück, um das Erbe der Gewalt und die Widerstandsfähigkeit der Schwächsten unter uns zu erkunden.«

Vor 20 Jahren verschwand ihre Schwester. Naomi selbst hat kaum Erinnerungen an dieses Ereignis – und doch will die »Kinderfinderin« die Spur aufnehmen. Die Suche führt sie direkt in die Dunkelheit von Portland in Oregon, wo mehr Kinder auf der Straße leben als im Rest des Landes. Und immer wieder findet man die Leichen junger Mädchen im Fluss ... Dort trifft Naomi auf Celia, ein zwölfjähriges Mädchen, das vor ihren Eltern geflohen ist. Der Vater missbrauchte sie, die Mutter ist suchtkrank. Ceilas einzige Hoffnung sind die Schmetterlinge. Sie sieht sie überall um sich herum – ihre schillernden Beschützer und Führer auf den trostlosen Straßen. Poetisch, fesselnd und bittersüß. Rene Denfeld schickt Naomi, die Ermittlerin mit der unheimlichen Fähigkeit vermisste Kinder zu finden, ein weiteres Mal auf eine emotionale Suche. Washington »Erinnert uns daran, dass Geschichten nach wie vor eines der wirkungsvollsten Mittel sind, mit dem wir unseren dunkelsten menschlichen Impulsen begegnen können.« Kirkus »Naomi zeigt uns die Botschaft von Denfelds gesamter Arbeit Kein Mensch verdient es, vergessen zu werden.« Margaret »Ein herzzerreißender, an den Nerven zerrender und doch hoffnungsvoller Roman.«

נעמי, בלשית פרטית המתמחה באיתור ילדים שנעלמו, הבטיחה לעצמה שלא תיקח מקרה נוסף לפני שתמצא את אחותה הצעירה שנחטפה ביחד איתה לפני שנים רבות ומאז לא נודעו עקבותיה. לנעמי אין תמונה של אחותה, ואפילו לא שם. כל שיש לה הוא זיכרון עמום של שדה תותים בלילה בעת שנמלטה על חייה. החיפוש מוביל אותה אל שכונת עוני שבה ילדים חסרי בית משוטטים ברחובות בחיפוש אחר כסף, מזון וחברה. כשמתחילות להתגלות גופותיהן של ילדות רחוב בנהר הסמוך, נעמי לא מסוגלת לעמוד מנגד על אף הנדר שנדרה. את ליבה כובשת ילדה בת שתים עשרה בשם סיליה, שנמלטה מאביה האלים ומאמה המכורה לסמים, וכעת היא נותנת את אמונה רק בפרפרים שבדמיונה, השומרים את צעדיה ברחובות המסוכנים. ככל שהאימה גוברת, נעמי וסיליה מתקרבות ומוצאות זו בזו נחמה והדים לעברן הכואב. אך כאשר ילדת הפרפרים נעלמת אף היא, עברה של נעמי חוזר לרדוף אותה והיא יודעת שעליה למצוא הן את סיליה והן את אחותה האבודה על מנת להציל גם את עצמה. רנה דנפלד היא מחברת ספרי מכר בינלאומית, עיתונאית וחוקרת. ספרה הקודם, ״מאתרת הילדים״, שבו אנו פוגשים לראשונה את נעמי, ראה אור גם הוא בהוצאת ״דני ספרים״ וזכה להצלחה גדולה ולביקורות מצוינות. היא מתגוררת בפורטלנד, אורגון, עם ילדי האומנה שלה. "מותחן עוצר נשימה, ובה בעת רומן מרגש ומלא תקווה מאת רנה דנפלד המדהימה." מרגרט אטווד, מחברת "סיפורה של שפחה" "בכתיבה מסחררת ואמיצה, רנה דנפלד מתארת את חייהם של הילדים האבודים באופן חסר פשרות, מבלי לייפות את המציאות הקשה." New York Times "דנפלד מזכירה לנו שסיפור מצוין הוא הכלי הכי חזק שבעזרתו אנו מסוגלים להתייצב מול הדחפים האנושיים האפלים ביותר." Washington Post

“Rene Denfeld reminds us that storytelling remains one of the most powerful means we have of confronting our darkest human impulses and sometimes overcoming them.”—Washington PostFrom the revered bestselling author, a compulsive, page-turning thriller inspired by her real life work exonerating innocents, a novel that asks how far we’ll go in our pursuit of the truth—an emotionally rich, luminously written book about evil and people trying to do good in the world.Ruby Spencer is known as “the exonerator.” Her job as an investigator is to free innocent men from death row, and she’s good at what she does. What many people don’t know is that she spends her time finding missing women, too. The orphaned daughter of an orphaned mother, Ruby feels a natural affinity for those who have been mistreated by the world at large.Her newest case takes her to Georgia, and involves a man set to be executed in two weeks. What begins as a routine exoneration unexpectedly sends Ruby down a winding path. Pursuing the truth, she begins to uncover crimes that lead to startling revelations about her own life.With time running out, will Ruby’s search for answers ultimately lead her to danger?

“Rene Denfeld reminds us that storytelling remains one of the most powerful means we have of confronting our darkest human impulses and sometimes overcoming them.”—Washington PostFrom the revered bestselling author, a compulsive, page-turning thriller inspired by her real life work exonerating innocents, a novel that asks how far we’ll go in our pursuit of the truth—an emotionally rich, luminously written book about evil and people trying to do good in the world.Ruby Spencer is known as “the exonerator.” Her job as an investigator is to free innocent men from death row, and she’s good at what she does. What many people don’t know is that she spends her time finding missing women, too. The orphaned daughter of an orphaned mother, Ruby feels a natural affinity for those who have been mistreated by the world at large.Her newest case takes her to Georgia, and involves a man set to be executed in two weeks. What begins as a routine exoneration unexpectedly sends Ruby down a winding path. Pursuing the truth, she begins to uncover crimes that lead to startling revelations about her own life.With time running out, will Ruby’s search for answers ultimately lead her to danger?