Vanida Plamondon
Hadrian Chase reigns supreme from his glass-walled corner office, a titan of industry whose ruthless efficiency has left a trail of gutted companies and erased lives. To Hadrian, compassion is a liability, and identity is an inconvenience best crossed out in red ink. But on the eve of the winter holidays, as the city outside glows with rainbow lights and the world he scorns moves on without him, Hadrian’s fortress of solitude is breached, not by protest or lawsuit, but by the haunting spirits of choices past.When a former business partner appears in a flickering vision, shackled by the chains of a life spent in fear and silence, Hadrian is forced to confront the cost of his own indifference. What follows is a journey both spectral and intimate, as Hadrian is visited by four spirits, each a mirror to the self he has buried, the lives he has altered, and the future he is forging with every act of omission. Through memories of boyhood shame, boardroom betrayals, and the quiet suffering of those left behind, Hadrian is shown the world as it was, as it is, and as it could be.Beneath the Quiet Light is a bold, contemporary reimagining of A Christmas Carol, set against the backdrop of corporate power and LGBTQ+ resilience. It is a haunting, lyrical narrative that interrogates the price of silence in the face of injustice and the quiet heroism required to break it. The story explores the intersections of identity and ambition, the wounds of internalized shame, and the redemptive possibility of community and chosen family.As Hadrian is led from the sterile quiet of his penthouse to the vibrant warmth of LGBTQ+ shelters, classrooms, and kitchens filled with laughter and love, he is confronted by the small, everyday acts of courage that sustain hope in a hostile world. Each encounter, whether with a resigned employee, a hopeful nephew, or a teacher shielding her students from hate, challenges Hadrian’s convictions and exposes the emptiness at the core of his carefully constructed life.The story’s prose is both incisive and compassionate, illuminating the subtle violences of indifference and the transformative power of empathy. Beneath the Quiet Light is a story of reckoning and awakening, of the long shadows cast by fear, and of the fragile, persistent light that survives beneath them. It asks: What do we owe to those we overlook? Can a single heart, long hardened, still be moved to change?For readers of literary fiction who seek stories of redemption, social justice, and LGBTQ+ affirmation, Beneath the Quiet Light offers a moving meditation on the costs of silence and the courage it takes to finally speak, and live, the truth.
