Holding the Hearth by Everett K. Marston
English | 2026 | Sci-Fi & Fantasy
In a town where comfort settles into the walls and routines feel as solid as brick, Holding the Hearth opens on a quiet arrival that changes everything. Larkspur, Kansas moves at a careful pace, shaped by wheat fields, passing trains, and habits that rarely break. When Nora Elwood inherits a modest boardinghouse just off Main Street, she expects paperwork, repairs, and solitude. What she finds instead is a place that responds to presence, to attention, and to restraint, as if the building itself is listening.
As Nora eases into the rhythms of running the house, small things begin to align. Sleep comes easier to her guests. Conversations soften before turning sharp. Problems resolve themselves without confrontation. The town notices the calm but never questions its source. Comfort becomes a shared assumption, something expected rather than examined. Yet the steadiness carries a subtle weight, pressing on those who rely on it most.
A baker discovers she can no longer bring herself to leave town. A retired rail engineer watches time bend inside the clocks he repairs. A folklore student uncovers records of places that grew peaceful at the cost of momentum. Through shifting points of view, the story reveals how stability can soothe and suppress in equal measure. The magic at work is never flashy, never announced, and all the more unsettling for how easily it blends into daily life.
At the center stands Nora, attentive and methodical, slowly realizing that her presence does more than maintain order. It redistributes emotion, absorbing conflict before it can surface. What feels like care begins to resemble control. As a looming inspection threatens the boardinghouse’s future, Nora faces a choice that reframes her entire life: continue offering comfort without consent, or allow uncertainty back into the lives she has steadied.
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