First published 2013
An unemployed American metaphysician finds himself among society's castoffs as they prepare to board The League of Nations, a massive airship promising escape from postwar despair. The crew includes a sickly English nurse and a German captain consumed by war guilt. Their leader is Moira, part mystic and part charlatan, who claims she can guide them to a utopian refuge hidden in the polar regions. As the dirigible lifts off into uncertain skies, the metaphysician watches his fellow passengers grapple with their broken dreams and desperate hopes. The journey becomes something none of them anticipated, testing whether these damaged souls can find redemption together or if Moira's promised land exists only in their collective delusion. Set in the aftermath of World War I, the story follows these unlikely companions as they discover that searching for paradise may matter less than the connections they forge along the way.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, metaphysics, airships
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, redemption, search-for-paradise
Setting: League of Nations, Polar Regions
Period: Aftermath of World War I
304 pages · Kindle Edition · Overlook Press
Content warnings: depression, mental-illness