Greenhollow

Everyone who comes to Greenhollow stays. Everyone always stays.

As World War III burns across Earth, the five-person crew of the Ares IV flees to Mars with nowhere left to go. Their ship is crippled in a storm landing, and they expect to die alone on the frozen plains of Arcadia. Then they see lights on the ridge.

Beneath a vast green dome lies a town that shouldn't exist. It has houses with porches, gardens, children riding bikes, and a sky of blue and drifting clouds. Its people welcome the crew with casseroles and peach cobbler, a house ready with five beds, and the warmth of a place where no one is ever sick, hungry, or alone. Before long the astronauts have fallen in love, married, and started families. For the first time since the war began, they are happy.

But small things begin to go wrong. An old man tells the same story word for word. Children never seem to grow. And when one of the crew tries to leave, the people he loves begin to die.

Eight years later, a survey ship arrives from what remains of Earth, searching for the lost crew. Its investigator, Lt. Nadia Kessler, finds a town full of warm smiles and perfect lives. She also finds a buried secret and a question no one in Greenhollow will answer: what happens to the people who try to go home?

Greenhollow is a haunting psychological science fiction novel about grief, love, and what we might surrender for a life without loss.