FIREFLIES IN THE DARK

When eighteen-year-old Maggie Mae ages out of the foster system, she has nowhere left to go but forward. A temporary job caring for an elderly woman named June leads her to a crumbling Victorian house at the edge of a forest in upstate New York—a place that feels less abandoned than it should, less empty than it appears. The house listens. The forest watches.As Maggie settles into her new life, she begins to notice things others might dismiss: echoes in the walls, memories pressed into floorboards, fireflies that gather with purpose. June, it seems, has not simply been living in the house—she has been keeping it. And as June’s strength fades, Maggie is drawn into a quiet inheritance she never asked for.The forest does not want her obedienceIt wants her boundariesAs lost souls begin to arrive—those caught between leaving and staying—Maggie must learn the cost of standing watch, the weight of guiding others without losing herself. With the help of Josh, whose loyalty runs deeper than fear, Maggie confronts a truth older than the house itself: some places do not save you. They ask you to stay.Fireflies in the Dark is a haunting, lyrical novel about guardianship, grief, and the fragile line between compassion and sacrifice. It is a story of chosen permanence, of love that anchors rather than consumes, and of the quiet courage it takes tostand still while the world moves on. Read more