*1st Place Winner—2023 Catholic Media Awards—Catholic Novels Category*

What if your worst curse could also be your greatest gift?

As a Missouri plantation owner’s daughter, Sarah Walcott has always experienced the best society has to offer, yet her charmed life also carries unexplainable tragedy. She’s been widowed six times, always on her wedding day. When a seventh husband meets the same fate, her parents determine to send her to an asylum, where she can no longer be a burden to them or a danger to society. In desperation, Sarah joins the Larksong wagon train on their way to the West and soon learns that her saviors also harbor extraordinary gifts…ones that may finally bring her the answers she needs.

Anxious to be free from a family legacy he would rather not claim and a slave-built society he doesn’t support, Tobias Lark believes the only way to find his perfect town is to create it himself. Joined by his three brothers, he sets out for the Washington Territory with a collection of carefully curated supporters, all determined to build a new life in the West. When a young plantation widow unexpectedly joins their party, he fears the curse she carries will crack the solid foundation upon which all his plans are built.

With each step along the trail, Tobias and Sarah encounter hardships that test their resilience and threaten the idyllic life they’re searching for. Will they stand together in the face of adversity or is the community of Larksong just another unobtainable fantasy?

Dusk Shall Weep

Only in the Darkness can You see the Light.

Six months after traveling the trail to Washington Territory, the town of Larksong hasn’t become the utopia the Lark Family imagined. Instead, it’s falling apart, much like recently-widowed Coraline Shay’s life. Due to a degenerative eye disease, her vision is quickly failing. Once she goes completely blind, rather than helping to build Larksong, she’ll become a burden on her already disgruntled sister. To protect them both, Coraline swallows her guilt and devises a plan to trap an honorable man into marriage. Luckily, her chosen target doesn’t believe in divorce.

Jamison Lark always felt called to be a priest, until family obligation drove him west to Washington. He uses his unique Gift as a physician to help the people of Larksong, but his contributions never feel like enough. He can’t shake guilt over his failures, especially the death of his friend Oliver on the trail. When Oliver’s widow professes unexpected affections for him, Jamison’s own feelings for her are overshadowed by his doubts. For the first time, he faces a test of faith he’s not sure he has the strength to pass.

When word arrives of war being waged between the native tribes and the United States Government in nearby Seattle, Coraline and Jamison face challenges which threaten to tear them apart for good. Could this be the end of everything they love, or are their fractured lives more extraordinary than they ever imagined?

Meet the Author

After her unexpected escape from enslavement, Martha Louis has finally found freedom in the community of Larksong in Washington Territory. When a declaration of love arrives from a most unlikely source, she dares to hope true happiness could be hers. Before she can embrace this life of her own, a child is stolen while under her care, forcing her outside Larksong’s safe haven. To see this little one safely home, she will be asked to risk everything, including her heart.

For years, Garrett Lark’s life centered around his own selfish interests. Cynicism fueled his departure off the straight and narrow into prodigal living. Then he met Martha, and the woman no one expected him to choose was the only one who motivated him to change. Now a successful hotel proprietor, he’s ready to declare his intentions and settle down.

When Martha appears on his doorstep begging for help he can’t provide, he seeks out an old friend at Sterling’s Theatrical, a wholesome family circus with a backstage more sinister than San Francisco’s lawless underbelly. Faced with the fire of past mistakes, the life he used to love could now cost him the love of his life.

Sparks Fly Upward

Meet the Author

Other Media

Short Intro

Josiah Song