When the Names Are Gone
(2026)(The first book in the Juniper Bell Archives series)
A novel by Jennifer Lush
A forgotten colony. A sealed archive. Ten founders where the records only name five.
When the traveling library ship Juniper Bell arrives at the wind-worn colony of Brindle, Captain-Librarian Meredith Clark expects a routine delivery: books, seed packets, repair guides, and one long-overdue archive crate. But Brindle’s welcome plaque lists five founders, while the ship'''s oldest records name ten.
At first, no one wants to ask why.
With help from Tavi Noor, her brilliant and impulsive apprentice archivist, and Oren Pike, the ship’s practical engineer with a talent for hearing what machines are hiding, Meredith begins following the clues Brindle still carries in plain sight. A children’s song. A weather journal. A hidden stove inscription. An old courier road. A seed catalog that knows more than the official registry.
As the crew helps repair heat lines, lantern routes, school records, and public trust, Brindle’s missing names begin to return. But the erased founders are only the first sign of something larger. Across the scattered colonies, records may be changing without consent, and an old library safeguard is waking at last.
Cozy, hopeful, and gently mysterious, When the Names Are Gone is a cozy science-fiction tale of found family, living memory, practical kindness, and the courage it takes to restore the truth without locking it away again.
Genre: Science Fiction
When the traveling library ship Juniper Bell arrives at the wind-worn colony of Brindle, Captain-Librarian Meredith Clark expects a routine delivery: books, seed packets, repair guides, and one long-overdue archive crate. But Brindle’s welcome plaque lists five founders, while the ship'''s oldest records name ten.
At first, no one wants to ask why.
With help from Tavi Noor, her brilliant and impulsive apprentice archivist, and Oren Pike, the ship’s practical engineer with a talent for hearing what machines are hiding, Meredith begins following the clues Brindle still carries in plain sight. A children’s song. A weather journal. A hidden stove inscription. An old courier road. A seed catalog that knows more than the official registry.
As the crew helps repair heat lines, lantern routes, school records, and public trust, Brindle’s missing names begin to return. But the erased founders are only the first sign of something larger. Across the scattered colonies, records may be changing without consent, and an old library safeguard is waking at last.
Cozy, hopeful, and gently mysterious, When the Names Are Gone is a cozy science-fiction tale of found family, living memory, practical kindness, and the courage it takes to restore the truth without locking it away again.
Genre: Science Fiction
Used availability for Jennifer Lush's When the Names Are Gone