The Dazzling Darkness

An ancient secret.A beguiling cemetery.A little boy, lost.What secrets lie buried beneath the haunting statuary in Old Willow Cemetery? Elias Hatch, the aging cemetery gatekeeper, protects these secrets and the enchanted woods alive with the spirits of Emerson, Thoreau, and Alcott in Concord, Massachusetts.On a cold March afternoon, five-year-old Henry Brooke, who loves to play hide-and-seek among the trees, goes missing.Antonia and Adam Brooke are frantic as the days pass in a futile search of the cemetery gardens—their idyllic marriage cracking as they face their deepest fears. Where is Henry? Is he dead? Is he alive?Elias Hatch cannot fathom how the boy got inside the cemetery's locked gates...unless.Detective Mike Balducci, an Emerson enthusiast, uses his transcendental instincts to hunt, chase, and track the leads to locate little Henry—but he must combat a power source far stronger than he's ever imagined. He suspects the truth lies in the shadowy apparitions drifting through the oaks and elms. Not until he discovers their dazzling faces hidden inside the darkened cemetery air, does he unravel the forbidden knowledge.While Antonia and Adam brave a series of ominous hauntings happening to them, they are driven to the horror that their Henry will never be returned. Set against the metaphysical world of Concord's historical Transcendentalist philosophy that still pervades modern society in Concord, this supernatural mystery is about a family who confronts the secrets of the dead and everlasting hope.Do you believe in ghosts?Look inside the story's opening to experience what the poet Henry Vaughan identifies a deep but dazzling darkness.Bronze Medal Winner, Readers' Favorite International Book Award, 2014.Gothic Readers Book Club Choice Award Winner, 2013.Paula Cappa is the recipient of the Gold Medal from Global Book Awards, 2022, and the Chanticleer Book Award for her supernatural mystery Greylock. She also earned the prestigious Eric Hoffer Book Award, and the Silver Medal from Global Book Awards for her supernatural thriller Night Sea Journey, A Tale of the Supernatural.

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