When the ground itself begins to knock, who can remain silent? In a convent in Coal City, a satchel of hidden ledgers ignites a storm that stretches from cisterns to courtrooms, from village streets to the marble halls of Rome. Ash falls where incense once rose. Affidavits become scripture. The people learn to keep hours not by bells but by knocks. Ashes Beneath the Altar opens the Ashes Duology, a sweeping story of witness and mercy. Its companion volume, Where the Ashes Bloom, completes the journey from fracture to fulfillment. Author Bio (Short): Victor O. Katchi is the author of the Grace River Trilogy, the Ashes Duology, and other works blending faith, fiction, and justice. His novels trace the battle between silence and witness, where mercy always has the final word.