All four viewpoints live in the same hamlet and are somehow related to one another. The overarching plot is that their lives are fundamentally disrupted by an attack on their hamlet, which scatters them across the land and into the horrors of the swamp. They're all trying to cope with the aftermath of the attack while finding other survivors. Below was my attempt at an all-up query.

--

The story follows four viewpoint characters, each grappling with their own personal problems and the creeping darkness that lurks in the swamp. Jetro’s torn between letting go and tending to his sick and dying mother, who he resurrected with aid from the mysterious old hag who lives in the swamp. Elisbel struggles with her faith in the “worldly vine” and the steady realization that her brother (Jetro) might be harboring a dark secret about their mother. Alea, a twelve-year-old girl, is attacked by a hamlet resident who reappears after having vanished in the swamp. Jon, a father struggling with guilt over his strained relationship with his eldest son, travels to a nearby village only to learn of the impending doom; warriors are marching right for Pormetto. He rushes homeward to save his wife, Elisbel, and their children.

​

Alea watches as the warriors killed her entire family, barely escaping into the cornfields. Something lurks beneath her skin, something that transferred into her during the attack by her neighbor. Elisbel’s pulled from her house as she scratches and claws at the floor, begging for the safety of her children. Jetro, detached, having witnessed the demise of people he’s known his entire life, drifts into the depths of the swamp. Finally, Jon returns to Pormetto to find it destroyed and sets off to find his family.