Summary

Chapter 1 is titled “Dava Shastri, Dead at Seventy.” The opening is from a news article about Dava's death, dated December 26, 2044. The article identifies Dava as founder of the Dava Shastri Foundation and creator or “the influential music platform Medici Artists” (1). Dava's husband, Arvid Persson, died in 2020 at the age of 46. Dava is gratified by a “breaking news bulletin – the kind usually reserved for politicians and pop stars” (2). She is on her estate called Beatrix Island. She laughs, which makes her head hurt worse. She focuses on the word “influential.” She knows she needs to tell her family what is happening, but she is not quite ready.

She can hear her four children – Arvie, Sita, Kali, and Rev – discussing their desire to spend next Christmas somewhere warmer. Dava picks up her old Blackberry, restored so she can reread her texts with Arvid. Arvid texted...