This is a book that is a true work of art. It begins at the end. By the time you are finished you realize it's just begun.

It begins with the death of the rock star Vina Aspara in an earthquake. It is her story. It is also the story of the life of an artist, Vina's soul mate, Ormus Cama and how he constantly loses and finds Vina, until he loses for good. It is also the story of Rai, the narrator and Vina's sometimes lover, whose eyes we see through and whose point of view we get to know quite well.

The three characters meet in Bombay in the 50's. Vina is a young half-Indian girl displaced to India for lack of anyone to care for her in America. There she meets Rai and Ormus. We follow their lives from Bombay to London to New York.

But things are not as they should be. The world is falling apart, right out from under our feet. But is it our world? Where exactly does this story take place? It is almost difficult to tell. It's a world breaking apart at the seams.