First published 2023
Emelie cannot leave her bed one morning. Her therapist diagnoses burnout. Her neighbor calls it the tiny work death. She flees the city's harsh lights and endless noise, camping by a lake in the forest. There she spots them: seven strangers living apart from the world. A sad-faced man. A tall, powerful older woman. Two women in their forties, one studying an ant hill, the other perhaps their leader with her confident stance. An exceptionally handsome man. A younger man wearing a Helly Hansen jacket and trucker hat. A teenage boy standing apart from the rest. They thank the fish before eating. They sleep beneath trees. They sing badly and dance to silence. Emelie watches, fascinated. Their simple existence pulls at her. Why return to society's crushing demands when she could join this colony? But every group creates its own hierarchy and expectations. Which role would she fill? Can anyone truly escape the patterns that bind us?
Genres: literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, contemporary, psychological-thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, contemplative, introspective, thought-provoking, unsettling
Tropes: cult-dynamics, escape-narrative, fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: city, lake, forest
Period: 21st-century
409 pages · Paperback · Scribe
Content warnings: depression, mental-illness