What is it to be a parent? What is it to be the parent of a child who is distant and different and fragile? In this magical fable, a larger-than-life sculptor father and a costume-maker mother watch over their angel Sybilla. They live in a nameless city on a mythical river aboard a barge with a moon-and-stars clock and a camomile lawn and festoons of velvet.

The story tumbles and flows with the energy of the river, breathless yet poised, the words sparkling with a fierce and perfect originality. This is a fable but it is also real, about loving a child and losing her. What does lost mean? And found? A profoundly original look at the unfathomable complexity of family relationships.