Summary

In the prologue, Sil woke with a feeling of dread. It followed her throughout her drive to the train station. At the station, she looked up her mother online. In the past, there were constant posts about her mother’s alleged criminality. In recent years there was mostly nothing (4). Today, Sil found a new picture attached “to the Belen case file” (4). Aunt Ena had taken it of Sil and her mother the day they arrived in Island City when Sil was 11. Sil had not seen the photo since she escaped Island City and the Repopulation Program. She did not understand who had posted it. Studying the picture, Sil noticed their old neighbor Bezi Duras in the background. Sil read the comments, wondering if she should respond.

In Book I, “Ena,” Sil and her mother moved to the Morningside, a towering apartment...