Tom La Farge's novel explores the terrain of his acclaimed The Crimson Bears and A Hundred Doors . He tells the story of a tribe of matriarchal apes that inhabit the Swamp at the mouth of the river Flood. The childless matriarch has a niece Zuntig, who aspires to succeed her but is overreached. About to be drowned with a bag of bones about her neck, Zuntig is transformed, time and again, encountering different selves and worlds, from the Biljub desert, the snow tunnels of Hyver, and the arctic ocean, to the Pig Opera of Bargeton. A wonderful fantasy in the manner of J. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings cycle.

Tom La Farge lives in New York with his wife Wendy Walker.