Preservation

Early in 1797, not far from the fragile colony at Sydney, a fishing crew hauls ashore three men who have washed up on the sand. They are gaunt, badly hurt, and have come through a landscape they cannot begin to understand, having tramped hundreds of miles on foot. Fourteen of their party did not survive the trek, and the survivors speak about what happened only in vague, guarded terms.

Lieutenant Joshua Grayling is given the job of finding out what really took place. As he presses for the truth, he becomes convinced that the fourteen deaths were engineered by a single cold and methodical person. Each new detail of the journey reveals more of its brutality, and Grayling starts to fear that the killer may be a threat to his own household.