VALLEY

A marriage of convenience. An isolated island. And the quietest man in southern Brazil. Valério Stern is 29 years old and has a diagnosis that says: less than a year. For the first time in his life, he does what he wants. He breaks with his family. He flees to the mountains. And he proposes marriage to the only man who never asked him for anything. Bernardo Monteiro says yes. No questions asked. The cabin is small. The winter is long. And little by little, over strong coffee, chopped wood, and nights reading by the fire, Valério discovers that Bernardo is not just silence. He's the jacket draped over his shoulders unasked. He's the gaze that lingers a second too long. He's the only place where Valério has felt at home. He came to the island to die in peace. He didn't expect to want to stay. --- VALLEY is a gay adaptation of The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery, set in the Serra Catarinense, a mountainous region of southern Brazil where the winters are harsh, the neighbors speak German, and everyone knows everyone else's business. Mountain slow burn. Marriage of convenience. Forced proximity. He falls first. HEA guaranteed.