Daniel 
Novel · Available now
Sanctuary
A novel
When a solar storm burned out every circuit on Earth, the world stopped in an afternoon: planes down, grids dark, borders hardening. Miles was in Costa Rica with his mother, counting the months until they would go home to Wisconsin. One year, baby. Then we go home, she used to tell him. She did not survive that afternoon.
Eight months after her death, he is the only American boy in an orphanage that is running out of food, where the older children are pushed out through the gate as they age. Then a letter arrives, hand-carried three thousand miles by strangers, addressed to a mother who is already dead. His grandparents are alive on their farm outside Oshkosh. His sister is alive. Come home. We’re waiting.
No planes are flying. No one is coming for him. So Miles begins to walk.
He goes north with a girl chasing an aunt’s address in Los Angeles, a boy determined to find the sister he left behind, and a man whose past is written in the scars on his hands. Ahead lie eight borders, armed checkpoints, gangs, cartels and fallen governments. Miles is the only one of them carrying papers that prove he belongs somewhere, and the road teaches him exactly what that is worth.
Sanctuary is a debut novel about migration told in reverse, an American child moving north toward a country sliding into something it refuses to name, defended by decent people who look away. It asks what the word means when every door is closed, and who is permitted to walk through the ones that open.
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- Paperback ISBN
- 979-8-9937910-0-5
- Hardcover ISBN
- 979-8-9937910-1-2
Featured Reviews
Sanctuary is beautifully crafted. The writing style is short, snappy and poetic; brief, impactful sentences build tension as the story progresses. This book leaves you thinking about it long after you finish reading.
Tierney, Paper Cryptid Read the full review at Paper Cryptid →
An ambitious, emotionally confronting and morally serious novel that refuses to confuse reaching one's country with reaching safety. Pandiyan's most compelling achievement is the way he reverses a familiar migration narrative.
Heena R. Pardeshi, The Reading Bud Read the full review at The Reading Bud →
The Central American sections read like the writer has walked through them himself. Immersive. One I'd recommend to anyone who reads with their conscience as well as their imagination. Honestly, the best ARC I've read to date.
KJ Gurney, kjgurney.com Read the full review at kjgurney.com →
The characters are the strongest part. They feel like real, fully formed people rather than types, and the connection between the main characters is genuinely compelling - a human center that kept me invested. A solid, character-driven story with real heart.
Katarina, Katar_Loves_Books Read the full review at Katar_Loves_Books →
Praise for Sanctuary
Unable to focus on ANYTHING while reading it. Pandiyan is an excellent writer. I prefer to read to escape reality. Sanctuary wouldn't let me escape.
Saoirse Roghan, Goodreads
One of the best modern dystopias I have read. The writing is fast paced and keeps your attention; I couldn't put it down, and I was genuinely sad when I finished it, I had become so attached to the characters.
Maddy, Goodreads
Profoundly touching. Deeply disturbing. A statement of what this world could come to, laced with hope for humanity. Highly recommend.
Debbie Pyette, Goodreads
A really well-written post-apocalyptic adventure with great pacing and some genuinely scary moments. A great read, and I'll be looking for more from this writer.
Sam, Goodreads
A harrowing story about survival in a chaotic new world, and about finding family amongst the wreckage and having the courage to keep choosing them. It kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.
Veronica Phipps, Goodreads
A compelling book that is set in a very realistic future. The characters are well fleshed out and relatable. Definitely recommend it.
Sandra Milley, Goodreads
From the journal
- October 19, 2026 So You Want to Be an Author (Part One) The first in a short series on how hard it really is to write and publish a book. We start with motivation, the writing itself, and the first wall every author hits, publishing.
- October 8, 2026 How Hard Could It Be? A self-taught painter decides to write a novel. A dozen coats, a lot of orphaned canvases, and what the characters taught me about myself.
- October 1, 2026 Made in Los Angeles A reader asked whether the gangs in Sanctuary are real. They are. On MS-13, Barrio 18, the crackdown that followed, and the road through Honduras.
- August 21, 2026 Beauty is resistance The Jaguar is one of my favorite chapters in Sanctuary, not for the obvious reasons. It touches the past, the present, and the future, and it asks what we really mean by culture, heritage, beauty, and goodness.
- August 14, 2026 On writing the wrong direction How Sanctuary began, from a Chicago winter and a police-station drop-off to the choice of an American teenager as its narrator.
Read the advance copy? There is an epilogue waiting for you.