Book One / The Witness / Two-volume paperback

The first
witnesses
are here.

A boy without a home starts hearing a girl across the world. Seven connected souls discover that their wounds are becoming powers.

Read Chapter One Get the Book Join the Witness Circle

Volume I begins the story
Volume II concludes Book One
Paperback fulfilled by Amazon

Start here$17.99

Read second$19.99

Enter the roots

“Seven wounded souls. One ancient witness. A world where pain does not disappear—it becomes power.”

The roots remember. The crows are watching. Rain carries more than weather, and connection arrives before anyone is ready for it.

This is a coming-of-age dark fantasy about belonging, abandonment, healing, and what happens when hurt becomes visible.

Explore the series in the Library

The Boy Looking for Home

“Lumen had named every plant on the windowsill.”

The story does not begin with a battle or prophecy. It begins with a boy at Safe Havens trying to keep fragile things alive—and drawing a girl he has never met.

Read Chapter One free

Meet the first roots

Connection arrives
before explanation.

People, animals, weather, and the earth itself begin answering one another across impossible distance.

01 / THE BOY

Lumen

A child at Safe Havens who understands plants better than people, names every fragile thing, and sketches a distant girl without knowing why.

02 / THE GIRL

Kiaiko

A girl who hears rain inside her dreams and fills her room with injured crows and living things trying to heal.

03 / THE GARDENER

E'noch

An old gardener who reads leaves, roots, silence, and the way a person walks as if each one is telling him a story.

04 / THE SIGNALS

Crows. Roots. Rain.

Heads lift. Roots reach in two directions. Rain crosses distance. Seven souls begin sensing one another before they understand the hidden connection.

Go deeper

Three doors
into the world.

Read the ideas beneath the opening: the emotional mythology, why eight-year-old Lumen names six fragile plants, and why Kiaiko’s crows stay when every cage is open.

Browse every Field Note

Worldbuilding / Definition

What Is Mythic Emotional Fantasy?

Mythic emotional fantasy makes inner wounds visible: grief can alter a landscape, connection can cross continents, and belonging becomes a force with consequences.

7 minute readRead field note

Character / Lumen

Why Lumen Names Plants in The Othering

Lumen’s six plants are not background decoration. Naming them is a private act of care—and one of the first clues to how he understands home.

6 minute readRead field note

Symbol / Kiaiko

What Crows Symbolize in The Othering

The crows around Kiaiko are wounded, watchful, and free to leave. That changes them from a familiar dark omen into something more intimate.

6 minute readRead field note

The first wave

The physical copies are moving.

Early readers have already confirmed physical-copy orders. Reader reactions are being collected now, and only responses shared with publication permission will appear as quotations.

Read it and tell us what stayed with you

Choose your place in the story

Book One.
Two volumes.

These are two halves of one continuous story. A new reader should always begin with Volume I.

Volume I01

Start here

The Othering: Book One — The Witness, Volume I

Seven wounded souls. One ancient witness. A world where pain does not disappear—it becomes power.

706 pages
6 × 9 in
ISBN 979-8184634203

Paperback / Amazon$17.99

Start with Volume I

Volume II02

Read second

The Othering: Book One — The Witness, Volume II

The first volume asked what grows. The second asks what has been watching.

783 pages
6 × 9 in
ISBN 979-8184639116

Paperback / Amazon$19.99

Continue with Volume II

Prices shown are the current listed paperback prices supplied for this campaign. Amazon displays the final price, shipping estimate, and availability before purchase.

What you receive

A physical book.
A clear handoff.

Choose the right volume

Volume I starts the story. Volume II continues directly from it and concludes Book One.

Complete checkout on Amazon

The purchase button records an anonymous outbound click on HLFStudio.com, then opens the canonical Amazon listing.

Amazon handles delivery

Amazon processes payment, printing, shipping estimates, delivery, returns, and order support. HLF does not receive your Amazon payment details.

The Witness Circle

Do more than finish the chapter.

Tell the studio what stayed with you, choose whether your words may be quoted, and help the first reader conversation grow around The Othering.

Join the Witness Circle Share a reader reaction

Before you enter

Frequently asked questions.

Where should I start?

Start with Volume I. It introduces Lumen, Kiaiko, E'noch, and the first connections. Volume II continues the same story and concludes Book One.

What genre is The Othering?

It is a coming-of-age dark fantasy with mythic, supernatural, and emotionally grounded elements. Amazon currently categorizes Volume I under Coming of Age Fantasy and Dark Fantasy.

What format is available?

Both current editions are English-language 6 × 9 inch paperbacks: Volume I is 706 pages and Volume II is 783 pages.

Is Chapter One really free?

Yes. “The Boy Looking for Home” can be read in the HLF Library without purchasing the paperbacks.

Who fulfills the order?

Amazon processes the paperback purchase and provides the final price, availability, shipping estimate, delivery, returns, and order support.

What content should readers expect?

The story explores belonging, abandonment and foster care, trauma, grief, emotional distress, supernatural peril, and violence. It carries mature emotional themes; younger readers and their adults should review this guidance first.

Become a First Witness

Begin with Volume I.

Meet Lumen in Chapter One, then carry the story with you in paperback.

Start with Volume I — $17.99 Read Chapter One first

The firstwitnessesare here.