It has always struck me as a curious part of human nature that we should wonder, to the point of obsession, about the pasts of those we care most deeply about. Underneath this is the question of how much we really can know about another person, but perhaps more importantly how much we really have a right to know. The protagonist in our novel, Alex, finds himself faced with questions such as these after the murder of his wife, and learns from her death much more of her past than she would ever have told him in her life. Every Contact Leaves a Trace is the moving, honest, occasionally heartwrenching story of Alex’s journey to discover what really happened to his wife, and to reconcile what he learns with the love they held for each other. - Em