In 2012, the Plague brought about the end of the world. In 2130, Charlinder wants to know why when his village begins to fight over the Plague’s origin. Was it a natural event, or did God punish humanity for its sins?
Unwilling to wait for matters to get any worse, and never having been more than ten miles from home, he decides to walk across three continents to find the site of the Plague’s origin and bring the true story home.
In the two and a half years it takes him to get there, he learns how shocking his village’s culture seems to outsiders while the settlements along the way force him to grapple with questions of family, religion, education, sexuality, hierarchy and interdependence. He survives thousands of miles of language barriers, hunger and disaster before he meets Gentiola.
Nothing could have prepared him for the tale of madness, ecology and fanaticism that he learns from her. His place in the world is a question he will ask for the first time.
