Under Hays Woods

By: Norman K. Clark

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

“Tonight, the lights from Pittsburgh, just across the river, reflected off the low clouds, faintly lighting his way.” Blake Redman, a retired steelworker, spends his nights walking in the urban forest of Hays Woods, above a vast network of deserted mine shafts and tunnels. His comfortable life rhythms suddenly upend when he begins to hear nighttime voices, ones that inspire him to draw people and places that he doesn’t understand. Blake’s struggles to find the truth lay open old wounds while exposing a 140-year-old family legend that only takes him deeper into the unknown. The potential consequences are terrifying, but he can’t let go of the need to confirm his sanity. Blake’s old friends, Frank and Albert, along with his new next-door neighbor, Annie Patel-DiNapoli, become unlikely allies in this urgent, dangerous, and sometimes comical quest for fortune and truth. Along the way, historical events from 19th-century Pittsburgh weave through their diverse experiences and multi-generational family stories, creating not just a sense of place and time, but of eternity. As they pour their imaginations and desires into the lonely void beneath their feet, they find their friendships connecting in the very deepest corners of their hearts.