A Later Country

In the Federation of Vess, every canton keeps its own year. Cross a border and you cross decades. The visa runs one way.

Emil Aune was raised in Halde, an orchard canton forty years behind the capital. His father went forward to prepare the way and died in the present before the family could follow. Now Emil crosses for work and for Femke.

The capital offers ordinary wonders, and his father's grave in a city his mother cannot visit. Only Hanne's letters keep the earlier country near. The orchard is fine. Everything is fine.

The paperwork to bring his mother to his wedding turns distance measured in years into something exact. He must decide what leaving owes the people who remain, and whether love across eras asks for return or witness.

A quietly devastating novel about emigration, mothers and sons, and the countries families inhabit at different times.