This is not one story, but a set of six stories, spanning six locations in six time-periods
- The first story is set in 1850’s New Zealand, and centers on an American Notary traveling back home
- The next story moves to 1930’s Belgium, where a young bisexual musician enters the home of an ailing master composer to work and learn, but gets caught up in a relationship with the composer’s wife and daughter
- The story moves to 1970’s USA, where a young reporter is investigating a nuclear power plant and connects with an insider
- The next episode is set in present day England, centered on a vanity book publisher, who is tricked into a retirement home like prison by his brother.
- Fast forward to the future, and the tale set in an extremely capitalist South Korea, centering on a fabricant, an artificially created (cloned?) restaurant worker who has broken free of her programming and become sentient
- A far future Hawaii, in a world destroyed by global war and pandemics. The local society has returned to the Iron Age, and is ekeing out an existence by trading with some technologically advanced survivors. The language spoken itself has changed, or rather, evolved radically,. The story centers on a goatherder.
Each story is linked to the previous by means of a record; The composer in Belgium reads the autobiography of the American notary in the library of the composer. The reporter reads the letters written by the musician to his lover, and listens to music composed by him. The publisher reads the manuscript of the story of the reporter, and the fabricant reads the life story of the publisher. The recording of the interview of the fabricant lands in the hands of the herder. In fact, each story itself is presented as being read (or otherwise consumed) by the central character of the next.
In each story, the central person is the same soul, as evidenced by a small comet-shaped birthmark on their shoulder-blades. There are recurring themes in each story; truth, betrayal, power, captivity… and in each, the protagonist shows great strength of character to elevate themselves from their circumstances.
This book defies definition in the truest sense of the word. It cannot be slotted in as mystery, or science-fiction, or drama. It can be slotted in as all of them. But one thing is for sure, it does not let you put the book down. An excellent read.