In 1426, Min-Hwani has returned to Nowon Village, on the island of Joseon, to reunite with her younger sister, Min-Maewol, and search for their father, a detective who went missing while investigating the disappearance of girls from the village. The two sisters remember their father differently: He’s always been like a shining light for Min-Hwani, while Min-Maewol feels he abandoned her when she was left behind as apprentice to the village shaman and he and Min-Hwani moved to the mainland. Before the separation, the sisters shared a traumatic experience neither fully remembers; both were found unconscious in the forest near the body of a young woman who died. Min-Hwani remembers nothing except a white-masked figure; now she’s certain that figure is related to the disappearance of both the village girls and her father. Although they are odds over some things, including whether Shaman Nokyung, the old woman training Min-Maewol, might have something to do with the disappearances, the sisters work together to try to unravel the mysteries, gradually discovering the disappearances are connected to the practice of giving girls to Emperor Ming of a China as a way to smooth relations. Power and politics both play a role in this mystery set in 15 ^th -century Korea, but family is at its heart, with two sisters trying to reconcile conflicting feelings about their father and the past. Vivid characters, time period and sense of place all enrich the telling. (Age 12 and older)