In a small, secluded town that thrives on gossip and superstition, Dottie offers plenty of both when the scandal breaks about a missing girl, a ghost, and the affair that started it all. Having suffered a history of miscarriages, reclusive Dottie develops a strange motherly interest in her fifteen-year-old neighbor, Magdalena. Somewhere between fantasy and reality, Dottie finds new life in her relationship with the mysterious girl. But Dottie’s entanglements with Magdalena, a curious centenarian, a compelling stranger, an ex-mobster, and a murder of crows thrusts this once cloistered woman into a frenzy of public scrutiny. To quell the rumors, Dottie puts pen to paper and discovers something as frightening as it is liberating—her voice.

Praise for Magdalena

“Sary’s instinct for the miraculous is indeed strong in this tender novel that lovingly captures the yearning for human connection.”

-Donia Bijan, author of The Last Days of Cafe Leila

“I was transfixed by this novel set in a town suffused with ghosts figurative and literal, and moved deeply to witness an eccentric woman’s grief transmuted into a gripping testament to the power of the individual imagination.”

-Antoine Wilson, author of Mouth to Mouth

“Magdalena is a unique and beautiful story, one framed by a mystery that propels the reader swiftly through its pages. Sary’s tale of love, loss and maternal devotion pulls hard at the heartstrings and is impossible to put down.”

-Diane Haeger, best-selling author of Courtesan

“In a small seaside town haunted by ghosts and run by the Catholic church a woman finds unexpected power in telling her own story. A quirky and suspenseful read!”

-Katya Apekina, author of The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish

“Is it possible to write a modern day ghost story that’s also a poignant tale about love, loss, and redemption? Candi Sary has done just that with her second novel, Magdalena. Shirley Jackson fans will be kicking up their heels.”

-Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, author of Palm Springs Noir (Akashic) and host of Writers on Writing

“Ghostly and mysterious yet rooted in the claustrophobic reality of a small town, Magdalena investigates a woman’s search for connection to the idiosyncratic people who cross her path, and most of all, to herself. This dark and delicate novel is a mesmeric read.”

-Siel Ju, author of Cake Time

“Magdalena took me into a world of obsessive love and the desperation we all have for connection in this world and the next. Candi Sary lured me into the heart of Dottie, her misfit narrator whose loyalty carries her up and out of loneliness and tragedy. Once you get started, you won’t put it down and you won’t want it to end.”

-Mary Castillo, author of The Dori O. Paranormal Mystery Series

“Magdalena is a ghost story about the living, in which the ghosts are less haunting than the lives of the characters themselves. Candi Sary tells an honest and heartfelt story about outcasts and the ghosts that haunt them, as they struggle to find their place in a small town rife with gossip. Executed with enchanting prose, the story unfolds with such a captivating sequence of events that it is hard to put down and even harder to forget.”

-Amy R. Biddle, author of The Atheist’s Prayer and co-founder of Underground Book Reviews

“Candi Sary’s newest novel, Magdalena, follows her central character, Dottie, as she maneuvers through her small life, small town, and unfortunate circumstances. We watch as she seeks comfort in a young girl’s presence, or is it obsession? Sary’s mesmerizing writing style envelopes the reader in the dreamlike reality of Dottie’s nontraditional ways of overcoming grief.”

-Nancy Klann-Moren, author of The Clock Of Life

“This compelling novel tells the story of a hero’s journey achieved by a woman. Candi Sary’s astonishing fable locates us inside Dottie’s mind as she traverses the ghostly underworld of Sam’s Town and discovers her own power to rescue herself, teenage Magdalena, and the entire town.”

-Stephanie Golden, author of Slaying the Mermaid: Women and the Culture of Sacrifice

“Sary draws us into a paranormal tale that feels absolutely real, heavy and creepily familiar. Layers of a mysterious past draw the reader into the narrator’s world, a lonely woman who carries the weight of more than one ghost. Absolutely impactful, Magdalena is a clearly told, multi-layered drama that pulls us into a troubled town and a haunted life—even compelling the reader to confront their own phantoms.”

-Dominic Carrillo, author of Acts of Resistance