August 30, 1975: the day fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan is glimpsed fleeing through the woods, never to be heard from again; the day Somerset, New Hampshire, lost its innocence.áThirty-three years later, Marcus Goldman, a successful young novelist, visits Somerset to see his mentor, Harry Quebert, one of the country´s most respected writers, and to find a cure for his writer´s block as his publisher´s deadline looms. But Marcus´s plans are violently upended when Harry is suddenly and sensationally implicated in the cold-case murder of Nola Kellergan-whom, he admits, he had an affair with. As the national media convicts Harry, Marcus launches his own investigation, following a trail of clues through his mentor´s books, the backwoods and isolated beaches of New Hampshire, and the hidden history of Somerset´s citizens and the man they hold most dear. To save Harry, his own writing career, and eventually even himself, Marcus must answer three questions, all of which are mysteriously connected: Who killed Nola Kellergan? What happened one misty morning in Somerset in the summer of 1915? And how do you write a book to save someone´s life?
