Girl on boat, boat covered in ice, ice holds boat in place. Letter is delivered to boat. Girl comes out of boat and skis north to direction from which letter came. World is cold and snow creates dunes that are blown about by wind.

esse Ball is a writer. He is also a fighter and a photographer though, as you’ll learn below, he lacks faith in images. He has written three prior novels, all of which leave a lingering feeling that your heart contains not four chambers, but five, and that someone, unbeknownst to you, has inserted a false memory into that previously secret fifth atrium.