Living in a Dark House

Debut novelist Darla K. Landers explores friendship, dark family secrets, and spirituality in Living in a Dark House. To learn more, click here.

Work of fiction, but rooted in real-life

Some characters are composites, but life-long friend, Mark, is the model for Hal.

Driven

“My beautiful white little Pinto, camouflaged in the snow and out to pasture in the long driveway, pampered and prepared to open the road and the sky for me, was ready and rested, in my mind, for my mission to school. I had recorded a new tape of Hall & Oates, and I was looking forward to my morning jam. That little four-cylinder car, with a toggle switch heater, could pump out heat and keep me warm on my way to campus.”

Excerpts from “Living in a Dark House”


Akron, Ohio, dubbed the Rubber City,
serves as the backdrop for
Darla K. Landers’ debut novel.

Through the years

Darla’s late grandmother inspired Grandma Delanie in Living in a Dark House.

Darla, whose maiden name is Knight, poses with her namesake in Dublin, Ireland.

Darla, at Buckingham Palace, with her husband, the other Prince William.

Luigi’s Restaurant

"Hal put the car in park, and he swung open the door. The red and green sign was illuminated and flashed Luigi’s off then on. The door dinged our entrance as the old-fashioned automated band on top of the bar played its usual polka song. The owner, holding menus, seated us near the swinging saloon-style kitchen doors. The vapors of melted mozzarella cheese mingled with yeast and basil and oregano tomato sauce, erasing the complexity of the issues that brought us there."

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