Cedar Key is an island dangling off the western coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. On a chilly February morning, the power plant smokestacks across the bay are enveloped in a microsecond of piercing light, and at least from the perspective of those looking across the water from Cedar Key, simply vanish. In an instant, the old world is gone forever. Fires burn on horizons around the world, but their warmth eventually gives way to the creeping monotone of the skies. The gray sets in overhead and all around, determined to keep the sun away from the land and waters.
 

        In the new world, three hundred islanders must learn to survive in the footprints of their forebears, battling invaders from the mainland, disease and natural disasters, and the compounding dread of hearing almost nothing from the wider world. This anti-dystopian novel is a quiet ode to the essential need for human beings to live in true community with one another.  Despite the loss of most technology and modern comforts, the islanders persevere in the face of hardship and death—burying their loved ones in the morning and planting spring vegetables in the afternoon. The deep friendship between the island’s mayor and an eccentric clam farmer underpins a story spanning three centuries of Cedar Key history. The triumphs and failures of past generations echo into the new world, as a people learn to lean on each other and their shared history.

 

       The Gulf’s rich bounty and destructive power are a thrilling setting for a life-affirming story where love and friendship push back against the darkness.