The Sparrow: A Prequel

By Jason Mott

From the New York Times bestselling author of Hell of a Book, comes a short story from the world of The Returned where one determined couple seeks to reunite a young girl with the father who thought he had lost her forever…

When Heather and Matt Campbell find ten-year-old Tatiana Rusesa on the side of the highway, she is thousands of miles away from her village in Sierra Leone. She hasn’t seen her family in almost two decades, not since she and her mother were killed by rebel soldiers. Now Tatiana has inexplicably returned, a lost orphan with no place to call home.

As the world dives deeper into uncertainty and chaos, Heather is determined to save Tatiana and help her find her way back to her family. But how much is she willing to lose to protect a girl she doesn’t even know?

Learn how the mysterious reappearances begin in The First.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781459245860

Jason Mott

Jason Mott holds a BA in fiction and an MFA in poetry and is the author of two poetry collections. His writing has appeared in numerous literary journals, and he was nominated for the 2009 Pushcart Prize. Jason lives in North Carolina.

Book preview

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The Sparrow

A Prequel to The Returned

Jason Mott

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In this short story by Jason Mott, author of The Returned, one determined couple seeks to reunite a young girl with the father who thought he had lost her forever...

When Heather and Matt Campbell find ten-year-old Tatiana Rusesa on the side of the highway, she is thousands of miles away from her village in Sierra Leone. She hasn’t seen her family in almost two decades, not since she and her mother were killed by rebel soldiers. Now Tatiana has inexplicably returned, a lost orphan with no place to call home.

As the world dives deeper into uncertainty and chaos, Heather is determined to save Tatiana and help her find her way back to her family. But how much is she willing to lose to protect a girl she doesn’t even know?

Learn how the mysterious reappearances begin in The First, and don’t miss Jason Mott’s unforgettable debut novel, The Returned, from Harlequin MIRA, a moving tale of a family navigating this unusual new reality and given a second chance at life.

Contents

The Sparrow

Excerpt

About the Author

Copyright

A couple in their twenties found her just outside Michigan, standing at the edge of a busy highway, watching the cars pass with a look of fear and helplessness. She wore a white, flowered dress, and her dark hair was pulled into pigtails with small beads dangling from the ends. She was dark-skinned and small and beautiful. When they asked her how she got there, she only replied that she did not know. It’ll be okay, they told her again and again. We’ll get someone to help you.

It had been happening this way for a couple of weeks now. People who had once been dead were suddenly showing up alive, alone and far from home. It began with a man in North Carolina named Edmund Blithe almost six weeks ago, who had inexplicably shown up for work exactly a year after he had been tragically killed in a bus accident. Since then, the numbers had multiplied each day. It was in the thousands now, and no one—not even the government—knew where they were coming from or what to do with them.

They were on their way home from visiting Matt’s mother just outside Saginaw. Heather was the one who noticed the girl, just off the highway, standing in the cold

Reviews for The Sparrow

[tfs93 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was my favorite of the three prequels to The Returned. A husband and wife find a girl alongside the side of the road. The husband thinks of her as an "it" and wants to exploit her. The wife treats her like her own child and does everything she can to help her. I liked the ending to this story. A quick lyrical read.