Ivan Pope

This Spring issue of Hinterland celebrates the limitless reach of life writing. Between them, our writers explore adoption, suicide, sexual assault, the AIDS crisis, conscription, grandparents, trauma, and the enduring influence of Elizabeth Bishop. Headlining this issue we celebrate a work seminal to the genre of life writing: Lorna Sage’s Bad Blood, with a collection of exclusive-to-Hinterland pieces by Christopher Bigsby, Victor Sage and Sharon Tolaini-Sage, with a foreword by Kathryn Hughes, that illuminate and respond to the legacy of Sage’s memoir, now entering its third decade of continuous publication.

Where do the disappeared go? This novel "skillfully rips away the veneer of our civilized world and exposes a dark and secret one that lurks below our cities" (Julia North, author of Hear Me) Freelance reporter Allen Kimbo wonders about the girls and women who vanish, seldom to resurface. He believes there's a network of men who guard those who are taken-and keep the silence that surrounds and enables such deeds. Now, despite his girlfriend Emily's pleas to stay away, an email has lured Allen to Eastern Europe, to a meeting of the Takers and Keepers. In Belgrade, more is revealed than he had ever thought possible. But back home, Emily is missing . . . Will Allen find the answers he is looking for, or will he discover that some questions should never be asked?