Publisher's Synopsis
After a severe illness leaves nine-year-old Bee Scattercorn deaf, her grandfather Bart, a grizzled late-career American politician, presents her with a diary. His hope is that the heartfelt offering will compel Bee, his Songbird, to write and, in so doing, sustain her spirit. As she matures, Bee embraces her grandfather's gift and chronicles via journal entries and poignant letters her increasing separation from the five senses world.
With the U.S. suffocating under toxic partisanship, Bart retires from the House of Representatives, but not before offering a radical, last-ditch solution: permanently divide the country by ideology so that freedom might survive. To Bart's surprise, and eventual lament, the notion takes root and a constitutional amendment is employed to raise two entirely new nations - one purely conservative, one purely liberal - from America's ashes. An adult now, Bee is drawn into her grandfather's chance crusade, pouring herself into the historic work of bisecting the nation. But Bee is soon haunted and consumed by a mysterious connection to her colleague Joe, his life and hers seemingly linked - intricately, impossibly - through ages past. Her grandfather's life expiring, Bee grows desperate for understanding. With the intrigues and dangers of this second (perhaps not-so-unlikely) American revolution reaching their apex, Bee sets out to prove that her mystic connection to Joe is no mere peculiarity, but rather somehow someway the root of her life's purpose.
