The Backwoods

Book I — The Backwoods: Tallow Roots

Hollis Varn returns to Fenwell Hollow expecting paperwork, property, maybe a quiet inheritance. What he steps into is something older: Tallow House, a house that listens. A stitched ledger called the Roll, buried memories that don’t belong wholly to the past, and an orchard that catalogs names like fruit.

From the moment Hollis crosses the crooked fence of his childhood, things begin to shift. A ledger entry he didn’t write. A root-door he saw only in dreams. A creature in the roots that echoes voices and summons names no tongue should speak. As portraits fade, neighbors forget faces, photographs wash pale—memory slips away faster than anyone can anchor it back. Hollis must decide what he is willing to lose: a laugh, a face, or the claim to his own name.

Rural yet uncanny, slow burn yet relentless, Tallow Roots weaves Southern Gothic horror with the pressures of memory, identity, and the land’s own claims. Perfect for fans of haunting family secrets, cursed houses, and psychological dread that lingers long after the final page.