Against the Grain

Oswy has spent his life understanding what breaks—and how to put it back together.

A skilled bonesetter and craftsman from a world far removed from modern life, Oswy knows the grain of wood, the alignment of bone, and the cost of forcing something to bend beyond what it can bear. But when a catastrophic flood tears him out of everything he knows and deposits him in a strange modern city, his old skills are suddenly surrounded by things he cannot name: unfamiliar machines, an unreadable language, and a society whose rules make little sense to him.

Alone and unable to find his way home, Oswy must learn how to survive without the knowledge and standing that once defined him. The people who take him in offer warmth and help, but belonging is harder than rescue. His hands still know how to mend what others cannot—and when people around him are in danger, that knowledge becomes a responsibility he cannot easily refuse.

Yet Oswy’s gift is not without a cost. He understands better than most that holding something together can consume the person doing the holding. As he begins to find a place in this unfamiliar world, he must confront the difference between being useful and being valued, between enduring pain and accepting help, and between preserving what is broken and learning when to let go.