In this captivating journey through time, an art historian makes an extraordinary discovery from the past that may foretell our future—if she can keep her connection to the woman who started it all.

2053. Haverford College.

Nineteenth-century art expert Derryn Witt documents an impossible find: gorgeously detailed paintings depicting the modern world…from 1859. But when a massive solar flare forces a shutdown of all integrated technology, her discovery is jeopardized.

The threat intensifies when a group of rebels attack the college, their movement resting upon the rejection of technology. Derryn flees to New York with the help of a sympathetic Sovereign, under the guise of being one herself.

But those Civil War–era paintings continue to confound her. Helen Bywater was surely more than an artist—but what? How could she possibly know what the world would look like beyond her own lifetime?

As the ethereal tie binding them grows stronger, Derryn begins to see what perhaps Helen did too. That no matter the time, the space between us isn’t so vast. The struggles we face aren’t so different. And the connection we need to survive isn’t so out of reach.