The goal is to uncover the answers to what ails us. But environmentalists warn that we may be digging up eons-old plagues that have the power to knock us off our lofty perch at the top of the food chain. In Stephanie A. Smith's Other Nature , civilization has been toppled by such a mystery wave of ills from which Man was, in the end, unable to save itself. This novel, though, is not so much concerned with the how of the biological apocalpyse as with its repercussions on society and on our most basic nature. The technological trimmings of the 20th century have been lost, and sights familiar to residents of the century's turn are fading into memory, fast becoming the stuff of legend.
Few children born there survive more than a few years.
When one of Monkar's folk believes he has spotted Linda, a woman who disappeared some years ago, in a dee-cee road crew, it promises hope for a few and heartbreak for many. Two people who loved Linda, Emily and Sean, have managed to rebuild a mostly satisfying life between themselves. But Sean's decision to find Linda leaves Emily bereft. She has been hearing an eerie music in the night, a beautiful crying sound that keeps her awake and obsessed with its source. Sean dismisses these nocturnal symphonies as imagination, but after he leaves Monkar on his quest, he begins to question Emily's wellness.