The Thin Line: A Settlement Prequel

This prequel to Katharine Tree's novel Dark and Deep follows Alexander Smith before he left the modern world to join The Settlement. Working as a blacksmith in 21st-century Glasgow, he finds himself educated, well employed, and involved with the beautiful barrister Emily--but increasingly dissatisfied with the disconnection and materialism of the world around him, as well as with his own failure to find a meaningful, sustainable place in a life he's suited for: a life where strength matters, where reliance on others runs deep, and where he can't run away from problems. As his world unravels around him, it becomes clear that he must forge his own path into the past--or lose himself in the tides of the future.