After an international meltdown, New Zealand, along with the rest of the world, has shut down. No electricity, no broadband, and people are in survival mode - at least until somebody turns the lights on again. Ruth's sister is dying from tuberculosis and her love for Juliana propels Ruth to undertake a perilous journey by boat down the Waikato River. She intrepidly sets off from Auckland to find a rumoured stockpile of pharmaceutical drugs based at the old Huka Lodge. 'Ephemera is not only a page-turner; it's a book that makes us question what we value what we discard, and what remains to us'. Catherine Chidgey, author of The Wish Child.