
A writer crosses the road with his dog every day on his way to the National Archives, where he reads up on the artist and eccentric Karl Dunganon. A girl with blazing red hair and sea-green eyes who works at the archives is no less interesting than the old documents she works to preserve – but getting to know someone is no small task. The tale unfolds across oceans and ages; new characters continually emerge from the depths of history, and deep in the bowels of the earth, an eternal fire burns, erupting tumultuously. Under a plume of ash, Sigurd the Crusader sails all the way to the Holy Land. Each layer of ash conceals another, and beneath it all lies treasure, stories, literature, and life itself.