This linked collection of seven short stories portrays doctors, painters, film producers, and others whose powerful appetite for life is shadowed by a pull toward self-destruction. As their isolated souls seek solace in communion with nature, the stories explore the presence of the dead and the deepest sources of life.

Seven stories in which isolated souls resonate with the voice of nature and descend toward the roots of life and death.

Guided by Gulliver's Travels, the narrator journeys to Ireland, where her travels become interwoven with Jonathan Swift's life and his intense bond with a woman, memories of fairy-like men, and grotesque scenes from the imaginary land of Napai. Blending reality, history, and fantasy, the novel traces changing forms of human connection and the sorrow of solitary existence.

From Ireland to the imaginary land of Napai, history, memory, and fantasy overlap in a journey where solitary souls call out to one another.