When he was four years old, Apollo West’s father vanished
without a trace. Shortly after, Apollo began having a terrifying and recurrent
nightmare. The dream never varied until, on an evening in his junior year of
high school, a cardboard box labeled Improbabilia
turned up on his doorstep. Inside were keepsakes, obviously collected by his
father, Brian. Among these treasures was Maurice Sendak’s children’s book, Outside Over There, a tenuous link to a
father he barely remembers. From that
moment onward, Apollo devours every word he can lay hands on; magazines, books,
the backs of cereal boxes, etc. Starting in high school, reselling the waiting
room cast-offs brought home from his mom’s office, he is able to parlay his new
passion into a career as a “book man.” Nearly a decade later, on the heels of a
fortuitous find, he meets Emma, an adventurous librarian. The two marry and are soon happily expecting
their first child. Despite a
headline-making delivery, the little family seems to be settling in well.
Apollo, determined to be the father he always wished for, is over the moon with
little infant Brian. However, things may not be as they appear. Emma seems to change shortly after returning
to work. Drawn and haggard she begins acting strangely. She never seems to call Brian by name,
incensing Apollo by referring to baby Brian as “it.” Over the next few months she
enlists the help of an online community of “wise ones,” whose advice will
dramatically alter their family’s life forever. What follows is an Odyssean
journey that spans centuries and oceans without ever leaving New York.
Jennifer Wilson
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