My face twists like someone with hard, muscular hands is wringing out the tears; they’re flowing all over and down into the tense folds. I’m going to have the wrinkles of someone who’s been in a lot of pain. By then, none of this will have mattered. When my hair is white and my body’s broad and round, the islands will all be different. The maps in my head will look ridiculous.

With the sun showing off behind my back I make a black silhouette on the little waves at the ocean’s edge like penguins or babies, innocently disrupting my shape, over and over, never getting tired of the game. In a moment I’ll get my feet wet, and that’s how they’ll stay, in a little boat rowing over to the next doomed little island. I’m as tired as someone ten times my age, but the day’s still young.

Acknowledgments

My heartfelt gratitude to my US and London families for all of your love and support; for the artistic and practical guidance, meals, coffees, crashes on couches, and confidence you offered me, I’m overwhelmed. And Brian Lobel, there are just no words; for everything, forever, thank you.

To Emma Paterson, Sharmaine Lovegrove, Erin Wicks, and Blake Morrison, thank you for the years of guidance and support in bringing this project to fruition.

For their generosity in hosting my research, many thanks to Kane Cunningham and The House in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, and to the Pelicans on Star Island, New Hampshire, whose camaraderie, warmth, and feistiness I deeply admire.

Thank you to Dan Paz, Chipp Jansen, Martin Chapman, and Christopher Halliwell for sharing your expertise in analog and digital technologies, software, hardware, malware, and all things blockchain.

Finally, I am so grateful to Arts Council England for their generous support of this project.

About the Author

SEASON BUTLER is a writer and artist born in Washington, DC. Season also works as a dramaturg, and as a lecturer in performance studies and creative writing. She lives and works between London and Berlin. Cygnet is her first novel.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

About the Publisher

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.

Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

Canada

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower

22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

M5H 4E3

India

HarperCollins India

A 75, Sector 57

Noida

Uttar Pradesh 201 301

New Zealand

HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand

Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive

Rosedale 0632

Auckland, New Zealand

United Kingdom

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF, UK

United States

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

195 Broadway

New York, NY 10007