One morning, a teacher disappears into the woods. As whispers fill her classroom and relatives scout the streets, she melts into a wild landscape. This is a darkly entrancing place where boars roam free, silver birches tower overhead, and the air is filled with ancient bird calls. Sinking deeper into a bed of moss and her own memories, the teacher seeks to escape the shocking news of a favourite student’s death.

Back in town, behind shuttered windows and on factory floors, the mystery takes hold. Who is Silvia really? A teacher of rare kindness, living outside of expectations, or a solitary misfit without a family of her own? When a local child stumbles upon her hiding place, it seems at first like the search might be over. But what do you do with a missing woman who doesn’t want to be found?

Lushly written and told with a mesmerising intensity, Untold Lessons is a suspense-filled debut about what it means to return to ourselves by an exhilarating new international talent.