This Strange and Precious Thing

Annya, holidaying on the Island with her old friend Simon, a photojournalist, nurses dreams of becoming a world class reporter. Instead, she finds herself caught up in a nightmare when Simon is abruptly called away on a mysterious mission. He persuades her to stay on at their apartment, but limping home the next day, bleeding and shaken after her usual swim has gone disastrously wrong, she finds their place has been invaded. Yet there's no sign of a break-in. Who was the intruder? Was he waiting for her all along? Is he hiding?Bafflement turns to panic as a series of inexplicable events compel her to seek help from strangers. But who can she trust? And what manner of being is it that appears to be watching her from on high? Could he be real? Her quest for answers leads to ever more disturbing questions, and when one of her new friends asks, "Do we exist elsewhere, in another time, another Universe? Or is time itself an illusion?" her grasp on reality begins to slip dangerously away.But this 'presence' is also on a mission - some impossibleseeming task set him by Gaia, Mother Earth.The narrative deftly weaves the two destinies together into a richly sensual tapestry, while exploring, at the same time, the very nature of reality.