Invisible Line

In a near-future New York held down by an authoritarian government, history teacher Laek finds he can no longer keep his radical past buried. After a violent clash with the NYPD, he and his family have to run for the Canadian border, crossing into Québec on bicycles. Their hope rests on persuading Montreal, a sanctuary city, to grant them refugee status.

Janie, an activist lawyer, sets about building a new life and protecting her family in a Montreal that has changed. Between legal battles and cultural adjustments, she learns that sanctuary has difficulties of its own. Their children, Siri and Simon, step into a world where the language, the culture and their own place in it are all unfamiliar.

As the family settles into its refuge, they come to see that some of the firmest borders are the ones people draw for themselves. The book asks whether they can truly be safe in their new home, or whether the past will follow them across the line.