This is also extraordinary and very good. An incredibly well structured and plotted novel about cartography, encompassing an element of magical realism among other things.
The plot hinges around a small town near New York, which doesn’t exist except to the possessor of a cheap old 1930’s road map of the area. The town is where a group of student cartographers, aware of its literal non-existence, tried to map it thirty years earlier, but with a villain in their midst.
The book chronicles the unravelling of the mystery by the daughter, then a baby, of two of the group. Would (and probably will) make a brilliant film, as modern cinematography could cover all the visual tricks perhaps better than the book.
Very good indeed.
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