The Town That Forgot to Cry

About the Book

When Dane Elwood steps off a train and returns to the faded town of Ashwell Pines after twenty years, he’s greeted not by friends or family, but by a silence that settles deep beneath the skin. His mother has just died. His childhood home is a mausoleum of secrets. And the townspeople—once neighbors and playmates—watch him from behind curtained windows, unwilling to speak of the tragedies that scarred them all.

But Ashwell Pines is not just any town. Here, memory is dangerous, and grief is a presence you can feel in the marrow of your bones. Children have vanished. Fires have burned away the truth. And somewhere in the fog, the figure of a man in a gray coat waits—watching, remembering, and perhaps, helping the town to forget..

As Dane searches for answers about his sister Jillian’s disappearance and the fire that shattered his family, he finds himself pulled into a haunting labyrinth of lost time, twisted memories, and chilling supernatural forces. The house he grew up in seems alive with echoes and warnings—a creaking swing, a fourth photo frame turned facedown, a child’s bracelet buried in the dust. Each clue brings Dane closer to the truth, but also deeper into danger, as if Ashwell Pines itself is conspiring to erase him.

With the help of Mae, the town librarian, and Eli, a haunted childhood friend, Dane begins to unravel the legacy of silence that grips Ashwell Pines. But the cost of remembering may be more than he can bear. As dreams and reality blur, and as ghosts from the past press in, Dane must decide: Is it better to live with the pain of memory, or surrender to the comfort of forgetting?