Out Sept. 1, 2025: The Strangers’ Sanctuary

The cover of The Strangers' Sanctuary (art credit: May Barros). A woman in a long blue dress and a man in a cape with a sword both lean against a fence, looking out over a hilly landscape. There is a building just visible over the next hill. Around this is a faded background photo of a Tuscan landscape, with farmland, hills and trees.

When home betrays you, build a new home

Two former classmates, faithless priest Placida and traumatized shrine guard Lunden, are tasked with reopening an abandoned shrine far out in farm country. They didn’t know one another well at the Academy, and don’t intend to start now. They just have to figure out how to run a shrine on their own, so the townsfolk don’t send them home.

Between summer bonfires and winter rains, Placida and Lunden find that they’ll have to work together to make the shrine thrive — and that they both hide painful secrets.

The Strangers’ Sanctuary is a small-scale fantasy novel about healing from dysfunctional origins, finding your place in the world, potlucks, book clubs, and true friends. It’s set in the same queernorm, low-magic world as the Healers series, but can be read without it.


Store links, content notes and more here.

Cover art by May Barros.

Availble in ebook and paperback at various retailers; details at the link above.