Behind the Veil

The first novel of a four book series.

In a Maryland suburb in the 1970s, Wendall Pickett has never slept a day in his life. Born a caulbearer—behind the veil—his eyes glint violet and gold in the dark. From the moment he arrives, his parents—Maggie, wrestling with her own inherited damage, and Percy, steady but quietly cracking—begin to pay the price of loving a child who is impossible in every way the world demands normal. The story starts before Wendall is born and follows the family's slow unraveling: exhaustion, pretending, and the love that keeps trying even as it falters. Ravens patrol Wendall's windowsill at night. A nursery ceiling blurs day and night. The house harbors awakening secrets. Book one ends in a moment of heartbreaking tenderness between mother and son, a fragile peace neither of them believes will last, and the reveal of a presence that has been watching the Picketts all along.