Tessa eased herself into the chair across from her father, the two of them separated by a sheet of glass. They stared at each other through a long stretch of silence while the sounds of other visits, jangling keys, and guards’ footsteps faded into nothing. It felt like the world had narrowed to just the two of them, divided by years of wounds that never fully healed.

Her father slowly lifted his hand, stiff and hesitant, until his palm pressed against the glass right in front of her. The ...