Here is Yves Gundron's account of the strange events to befall Mandragora. It is a desperate, primitive place - plowing, candles, even numbers larger than twenty are all considered modern innovations. Nevertheless, there was little conflict before Yves's invention - the harness - irrevocably transformed the Mandragorans' lives.Yves's manuscript, which bears witness to these changes, has been prepared for publication by an academic named Ruth Blum - her notations supplement Yves's story. But what at first seems a historical document proves to be something else entirely. Yves's brother, Mandrik le Chouchou, the town mystic, regales his fellow villagers with exotic tales of his travels to "Indo-China." And when Yves recalls the words of a song that is recognizably a blues lyric, we know that either Ruth Blum is up to something or Mandragora is not what it seems. In this sharply witty and adventurous debut novel, Emily Barton explores the two-edged sword of technology, asking what is lost in our fervent pursuit of modernity. Read Less