The Giftwright Shop

In this novella, some memories deserve to last forever. But what happens when profit replaces permanence?

Neve never chose glasswork, it chose him when his father's estate couldn't provide for seven sons. Apprenticed to Hollis Giftwright, the finest memory-binder in three valleys, Neve expects to learn a dying art in a corporate-owned workshop making trinkets that fade within years.

Instead, he discovers something far more valuable: the truth about what his master's craft used to be, and what EverBright Corporation turned it into.

While noble families preserve centuries of memories in Hollis's enduring work, common people watch their children's first words and wedding vows dissolve like morning frost, victims of synthetic materials and corporate shortcuts. When Neve and Hollis begin secretly restoring these shattered memories using forbidden traditional methods, they ignite a quiet revolution that threatens EverBright's empire.

But royal patronage comes with a price. To protect the families depending on them and free the craft from corporate control, Neve must wield more than breath and fire. He'll need ledgers, law, and the kind of strategic thinking that turns a nobleman's unwanted son into a corporate enemy worth silencing.

The Giftwright's Shop is a warm, soot-stained story about choosing permanence over convenience, craft over commodity, and the stubborn work of keeping what matters, even when the whole system wants you to let it break.

Come Join Neve and Hollis in the Giftwright's Shop series for deep dive into the fine craftsman of the fairytales.

This is Book One, approximately 22,000 words.