Year 536. The sun falters. Breath becomes a ration. Inspired by the real "dark year" of 536-when a veil of ash dimmed the skies across Europe and the Mediterranean. On a drowned stretch of late-Roman coast, a town learns to survive without miracles. Livia is no saint, no soldier-she's a keeper of rooms, a woman who can persuade wood, stone, and air to behave. Every working costs her something small and exact. Every choice keeps breath moving from door to door. When a powerful consortium called Candle arrives with salvation for sale-collars to "measure mercy," boxes to inventory children, subscriptions to safety-the town must decide what it will become. Then a sealed iron chest washes up beneath the headland, carrying claims that could own the harbor, the roads, and the people themselves. To protect her neighbors, Livia will spend the one coin she swore never to spend-and teach a new grammar of survival: rooms before laws, habit over spectacle, rope instead of chains. Told in taut, luminous prose, Ashfall 536 is a literary historical fantasy where the magic is quiet, the costs are real, and courage looks like keeping ordinary things from breaking. Readers who love atmospheric epics, found-family resilience, and morally charged power plays will feel at home in this ash-veiled world. Inside you'll find: A fierce, unforgettable female lead who refuses to bow to anyone's "mercy."A coastal Roman town resisting famine, fear, and zeal-using craft, wit, and community.Quiet, tactile magic with true consequences-no easy miracles, no chosen-one prophecy.Lush, muscular storytelling that builds to a breathtaking, earned finale.The beginning of a sweeping saga about survival, belonging, and the price of order.If the sun ever comes back, it will be because ordinary people held their doors. Start Ashfall 536 today-step into a Rome shrouded by ash and memory, where one woman's fight may outlast the sun.