Diabhal

Ceit Robertson, age ten, is the next Matrarc to the Society, a cultish matriarchal group living in an inconspicuous cul-de-sac in Venice Beach. When Ceit's mother is attacked by spirits from the old world, a failed exorcism results in Ceit's exile into the foster-care system in Los Angeles. She eventually lands in the infamous MacLaren Hall, a very real and historically auspicious center for disturbed and abandoned children in El Monte. As Ceit grows into a force of nature, she discovers that the devil might not be what we should truly fear. A sympathetic story of the devil in Los Angeles, Diabhal explores the true nature of evil and how intention colors our definition of what wickedness truly is.

In 1996 in Venice Beach, Ceit struggles with the confines of superstition and tradition that have defined the Society since its start. As her younger brother, Alan, turns eighteen, Ceit enacts a plan to end the Society for good. In doing so, she will release Alan from what she sees increasingly as a toxic and antiquated way of life and free herself from her mortal ties to the human realm. In 1924, Ainsley Robertson lives in a secluded community outside of Cork, led by her father, an abusive and cruel ceannaire. She's expecting a baby in a world where being an unwed mother is a criminal act. As she navigates that world dominated by dogma and oppression, she grows to realize her own gifts and connection to the world of the fae. As the sparks of what will become the Society grow to a flame, Ainsley becomes the Matrarc of her people, leading them to a new world and a new tradition. Sinder weaves together the parallel stories of Ceit, grown to adulthood and in her rightful place as Matrarc of the Society, and her great-grandmother, Ainsley Robertson, as the community that would come to inhabit Sinder Avenue begins in 1920s Ireland.

Ten years after the city of Los Angeles is nearly destroyed by a violent domestic terrorist attack, Esther Robertson struggles to reconcile her father's culpability as leader of the deadly Son of Abraham cult. She grants CBS's top reporter, Cooper Carlson, a rare interview and insight into her father, Alan Robertson, who sits awaiting trial for his crimes in federal prison. A report of a horrific and seemingly natural disaster interrupts the interview. Another follows and another after that. Are these increasingly violent and bizarre phenomenons truly natural, or is there another force behind them? In the epic conclusion to the story of the Society at Sinder Avenue, the end times-put into motion by a demonic deal made generations ago-are finally unfolding. Destruction, famine, war, and pestilence reign. But is it God who comes to answer the prayers of the suffering and dying world, or is it Ceit Robertson, the ascended matriarch of the Society, Goddess of the Dead, and Ruler of the Night Forest? Will they offer salvation or Armageddon?