In the Shadow of Satellites

Memories are precious, and for Sian Bennett, they are fleeting. On 22 February 2011, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake rocks Christchurch, New Zealand. Sian was there, along with her husband and baby son. What happened that day is a mystery; all she remembers is waking up in hospital five months later, alone.

Two long years pass, and the memories continue to disappear into the black hole that was opened up the day of the quake. Life becomes a perilous journey lived on a tightrope that stretches between the past and the present. Retreating to a lakeside cottage in Rotorua, she shies away from a world she no longer understands.

When Luke Lancaster moves into the derelict cottage beyond the trees, he respects his reclusive neighbour’s silent plea for privacy. Now half a world away from his native North Carolina, he has seen war, misery and chaos. Along with his dog, Geezer, he lives with a few ghosts of his own.

What begins as a fragile friendship leads to a much deeper connection, in which truth, lies, love and pain are intimately bound. Even in paradise, shadows lurk.

A slow-burning tale of loss and love, stoked in the flames of fate and superstition, it is ignited by the power of hope.