Frannie asks herself this question when, a week before she turns fifteen, her dad dies, leaving her suddenly deprived of the only human being on planet Earth she feels understands her. Frannie struggles to make sense of a world that no longer seems safe, a world in which one moment can turn things so thoroughly for the worse. She discovers an elegant wooden box with an inscription: Frances Anne 1000. Inside, Frannie finds one thousand hand-painted and -carved puzzle pieces. She wonders if her father had a premonition of his death and finished her birthday present so early. Feeling broken into pieces herself, Frannie slowly puts the puzzle together, bit by bit. But as she works, something remarkable begins to happen: She catapulted into an ancient foreign landscape, a place suspended in time where she can discover her father as he was B.F.-before Frannie.

Delia Ephron is a novelist and screenwriter. Her books include BIG CITY EYES and HANGING UP. Her screenwriting credits include THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS, YOU'VE GOT E-MAIL, HANGING UP, and MICHAEL. She lives in New York City. You can e-mail her at frannieinpieces@aol.com.