Raised in a remote village on the edge of a sugarcane plantation, fourteen-year-old Isabel was born with the gift and curse of 'seeing farther'. When drought and war grip the backlands, her brother Isaias joins a great exodus to a teeming city in the south. Soon Isabel must follow, forsaking the only home she's ever known, her sole consolation the thought of being with her brother again. But when she arrives, she discovers that Isaias has disappeared. Weeks and then months pass, until one day, armed only with her unshakeable hope, she descends into the chaos of the city to find him. Strikingly visual, told with astonishing empathy, the story of Isabel's quest - her dignity and determination, her deeply spiritual world - is a universal tale about the bonds of family and a sister's love for her brother; about journeys and longing, survival and true heroism: a tour de force of great emotional and narrative power.

Accolades

Shortlisted for James Tait Black Memorial Book Prizes: Fiction 2008.

Author Biography

Daniel Mason is the author of The Piano Tuner. This is his second novel. He currently lives in California.