Publisher's Synopsis
A journey together Marco Polo and Kublai Khan from the real to the surreal.
If I were to go to Zaira, I would be overwhelmed with memories. It is a city unlike any other-a magical place where the past hides itself, readable only to those with the gift of prophecy. In Dorothea, all roads are open, waiting to unfold if only one wills it. In Isidora, however, one arrives already aged, with dreams that have faded into the haze of time. And in Diomira, for one night, I knew happiness-a joy so rare that it stands beyond price. Yet in Anastasia, I was deceived; they gave me everything, and yet nothing remained.Tamara is the city of the future, where nothing is real. It is a city made of signs and symbols-an endless array of meanings that mark the man-made world. And to escape it? There lies only the desert, an unbroken stretch of stones and tundra where all things are the same. There, and only there, do signs and symbols dissolve, leaving a man free at last. His imagination may roam again, creating, dreaming, and perhaps forgetting Tamara forever.
As for Zora, I cannot forget her, though I wish I could. She was overwhelming, like lightning that flashes and vanishes in a heartbeat, leaving only an imprint that stains the sky forever.
