Lines In the Dark

By Eric Atwell

Lines in the Dark is a quiet, powerful coming of age novel about a young girl learning how to survive, and eventually live, inside and beyond a violent home. Growing up with a father whose anger dictates the shape of every room, she learns early the rules of staying safe. Stay quiet, stay small, hide when the warning signs begin. The closet becomes her refuge, it is floorboards marked with lines she counts to soothe herself while she waits for danger to pass. Over time, hiding becomes not just a place but a way of being. When a night of escalating violence finally breaks what silence has protected, the girl makes a choice that will alter everything. As authorities intervene, her home is exposed, her father's power collapses, and she and her mother begin the difficult work of rebuilding a life shaped not by fear but by intention.Told with restraint, compassion, and emotional precision, Lines in the Dark traces the long arc from endurance to agency, from learning how to disappear to learning how to take up space. It is a novel about trauma without sensationalism, about survival without romanticizing pain, and about the courage it takes to let light in after living so long in shadow.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GY9K8KSB
• ISBN13: 9798258561930
• Release Date: April 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"