Publication date: September 22nd 2026

Genres: Adult, Gothic, Mystery

A Novel by Award-Winning Author Christine Roy

Some secrets don’t stay buried. They wait for the right mind to hear them.

In 1994, on the rocky shores of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, Ben Barrows begins his senior year at Masters’ Preparatory like a dead man walking, half his friendships already over, just not yet buried. Then Dana Kirkland arrives: a new student, a rival dancer to his powerful ex-girlfriend, and the one person who might save him. Together, Ben and Dana try to hold on to love against a tidal wave of pain and treachery neither of them saw coming.

In the present, Joey Barrows is drowning in grief. As he crosses the graduation stage, a terrifying gift awakens, the unspoken words of everyone around him, pouring uninvited into his mind. When Joey discovers his distant, unstable father shares this same curse, the door to a devastating past swings open, releasing secrets, obsession, and ghosts that refuse to stay silent.

Told across two timelines, Hidden Words is a gothic, speculative mystery about the inheritance of trauma and the terrible cost of truths left unspoken.

Perfect for fans of We Were Liars, Black Swan, and The Turnout.

Hidden Words deals with mature themes including trauma, family abuse, and sensitive interpersonal relationships. Recommended for mature young adult and adult readers.

Excerpt

Pressed beneath the heavy atmosphere like a dead flower in a book, hunger dizzy in her head, Dana Kirkland took a bite of the lettuce on her plate and placed her fork on the flower-rimmed porcelain. She sat straight in her chair, her heart racing in the brightness of the room. The eyes of the great picture window to her left were upon her. As always, the shade was raised. She was on display to the odd passersby, no different from the ornamental trees in the front yard or the vibrant mums in their resilient autumn bloom along the stone-paved walkway. Presentation was everything. They all had a role to perform.

So did the house. Most of its peers gone, replaced with modern, mini mansions, the circa nineteen-hundred dark gray craftsman colonial had stood almost beyond repair when they’d bought it. Nearly two stories high, the building with its low-pitched gable roof, picture windows and heavy tapered stacked-stone columns now stood accustomed to attention and adoration. White painted rafters and beams accented the two dormered windows extending from the roof. Above them, a small rectangular, black-paned window with a sunrise design of green, amber, dark red, and yellow spreading out from the center was a favorite feature in her loft bedroom. She wasn’t sure if the simplistic but ornate feature held a mutual admiration for her, though. When she approached from the street, she would avert her gaze as the window always looked like secrets dwelt trapped behind the colored glass.

Ghosts were the last thing she needed. If they existed in her home, they could just chill out. Or haunt her mother, Lynn, who would most likely approve of their transparency.

Buy on Amazon | Bookshop.org