Held to the Light

A Novel Inspired by a True Life

A digital publication designed as a reading experience rather than a file: a structured contents architecture, a prologue, four parts, seventeen chapters, an epilogue and author section, and a choice between narrated audio and silent reading.

Content note

This work draws on personal life and medical experience. Readers may prefer to choose their own pace and reading mode.

Verified public state

Observed August 30, 2026 and link-tested August 31, 2026: the live reading experience is reachable and public, and presents the contents architecture, audio and read-silently choices, word-highlighting language, and an offline-use statement.

Live experience: Open the reader (opens in a new tab) — external project page, opens in a new tab.

Pending behavioural verification: narration playback, synchronised word highlighting, chapter navigation, and offline behaviour are described by the live page but are not yet re-tested end to end for this portfolio. They are labelled as claims of the product, not as verified behaviour.

Experience evidence

Cover, contents, reading interface, audio mode, sample chapter

Approved captures from the live reader — select any image to open the full experience.

Held to the Light — A Novel Inspired by a True Life, by Misty Klein

Cover — click to open the live reader

Held to the Light — contents architecture in the live reader

Contents — click to open the live reader

Held to the Light — narrated chapter with audio controls and music

Audio mode and sample chapter — click to open the live reader

Design decisions

Two reading modes: Audio-narrated and read-silently are offered as an explicit choice at entry rather than buried in settings.
Structure as navigation: The contents architecture is the primary navigation, so a reader can leave and return without losing place.
Offline-first intent: The experience is packaged for reading without a connection, which changes how media is loaded and cached.

Separation from other work

Distinct from The Model's Compass: This is a narrative publication with an interaction design; The Model's Compass is a curriculum development archive. They are presented as separate artifacts with different purposes and status.
Identity: Published under the DreamCasters Compass identity. That identity is preserved here and not restyled.