The Balder House

Eleven-year-old Stephen Balder is already marked by tragedy long before he is accused of breaking into a neighbour’s home. Known to authorities for his troubled past, he becomes an easy target for Mr. Basker — a man convinced he’s protecting his family from something far more dangerous than it seems. But as fear and outrage spread through the town, Stephen is quickly cast as something worse than a child: a threat that must be contained.

Shunted through a system that fails to understand him, Stephen is expelled, isolated, and stripped of what little stability he had left. As his life collapses further, something inside him shifts. In the silence of libraries and abandoned corners of his home, he begins gathering knowledge — not for escape, but for control. For revenge. And as the town prepares to move on without him, Stephen quietly sets something in motion that no one will notice until it’s already too late.