When the Truth Was Young

a novel by writer_noi
Prequel to When the Truth Breaks

Before they became rivals, they were only daughters.

In the shadowed heart of London, two prodigies grow up in houses divided by a single street and an entire philosophy.

Noi Aurora Moriarty, child of the world's most brilliant criminal mind, is raised in a mansion turned laboratory - a place where affection is rationed and failure is punished. Taught to turn logic into weaponry, she learns early that love is dangerous, and emotion is the enemy of genius.

Across the city, Rose Holmes, daughter of the great detective, learns her own lessons in the art of deduction. Every day is a test of observation, precision, and control - but never warmth. For all her father's brilliance, Rose longs to be more than his reflection in a mirror she can't escape.

As the years pass, each girl becomes a masterpiece in her father's image - brilliant, disciplined, and utterly alone.
Until fate, illness, and one reckless boy named Jacks begin to weave their stories together.

From secret missions and storm-shattered nights to the first cracks in two impossible minds, When the Truth Was Young tells the origin of a rivalry born in love, genius, and betrayal - the story of how two daughters inherited the war their fathers began.