"When Guy's marriage of two decades unravels, he's driven from his previously stable domestic life and ends up renting a room in the houseboat of his much younger co-worker Karl. Pushed outside his comfort zone, Guy tries to follow Karl's example, until he ends up exploring entirely new frontiers, both natural and uncanny. He finally encounters the enigmatic Lily, who offers to share with Guy her own arcane language, a mix of incomprehensible symbols, rough bits of nature and dark pleasures of the flesh. Guy finds himself obsessed, as if powerless under Lily's spell. Will he recognize in time the many secrets she keeps hidden in plain sight, or will allow himself to be pulled downstream toward an inescapable vortex?"--Page 4 of cover.