Julie Lawson Timmer grew up in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. She earned a Bachelor’s degree from McMaster University and a law degree from Southern Methodist University. She serves as in-house legal counsel to an automotive supplier in Michigan. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with her husband and their children. She is also the author of Five Days Left.

Char Hawthorn, college professor, wife and stepmother to a spirited fifteen-year-old daughter, loves her family and the joyful rhythms of work and parenting. But when her husband dies in a car accident, the “step” in Char’s title suddenly matters a great deal. In the eyes of the law, all rights to daughter Allie belong to Lindy, Allie’s self-absorbed biological mother, who wants to girl to move to her home in California.

While Allie begins to struggle in school and tensions mount between her and Char, Allie’s connection to young Morgan, a ten-year-old-girl she tutors, seems to keep her grounded. But then Morgan, who was adopted out of foster care, suddenly disappears, and Char is left to wonder about a possible future without Allie and what to do about Morgan, a child caught up in a terrible crack in the system.

Untethered explores what bonds truly form a family and how, sometimes, love knows no bounds.