A darkly epic novel about connection, disconnection and destruction - from the New York Times-bestselling, National Book Award-winning, Booker Prize-longlisted author of Let the Great World Spin

Anthony Fennell, a writer, has travelled to Cape Town with a simple aim: to find and board the Georges Lecointe, a cable repair vessel captained by the mysterious, charismatic Chief of Mission John Conway.

As the boat embarks along the west coast of Africa, Fennell settles into the routines and rituals of life out at sea. But as the mission falters, it becomes clear that Conway is in crisis: and that a terrible, violent tragedy is unfolding in the life he has left behind on land.

When Conway disappears, Fennel must set out to find him. His discoveries will bring him face to face with the darkest contradictions of the human heart - and to confront the possibility that the ties that bind us might be better off broken.