the last ember of november

Every November, the small town of Ashwick holds a lantern festival to honor the dead. But this year, seventeen-year-old Maren discovers that one of the lanterns doesn't float skyward-it falls back down, carrying with it a message written in her late mother's handwriting.

As Maren follows the trail of these impossible letters, she uncovers a hidden history of Ashwick: a pact made generations ago with a forgotten spirit of autumn. The spirit demands remembrance, but it also hungers for something more. With each night of November, the veil between the living and the dead thins, and Maren must decide whether to protect her town-or risk everything to reunite with the mother she lost.

Themes: memory, grief, folklore, first love, the haunting beauty of autumn.
Tone: atmospheric, mysterious, bittersweet.

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The first lantern slipped from Maren's hands like a secret she wasn't ready to tell.
It rose into the November sky, its paper walls glowing amber against the dark. Around her, the townsfolk whispered prayers, their voices weaving into the cold air like threads of smoke.

But then-one lantern faltered.
Instead of rising, it spun downward, tumbling through the night until it landed at Maren's feet.

Her breath caught. The paper was scorched at the edges, but inside, folded neatly, was a slip of parchment.
The handwriting was unmistakable.

"Maren. Follow the embers. I'm waiting."

The world tilted. Her mother had been gone for three years.
And yet, the ink was fresh.
'

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