Mary grows up in an orphanage; of her very first years at Ardenne, she remembers little. But she knows this: she has always been friends with Andrew. They share their days on the cold beaches of Leel, a small country off the coast of England, playing marriage games, laughing about the world's absurdities, building something Mary cannot yet name. And then comes Solveig. Beautiful and enigmatic, she moves into Ardenne at twelve and quickly becomes essential to Mary and Andrew's lives. The three orbit each other, growing older and apart and helplessly knotted together. Time and separations fail to untangle Mary's feelings - there is always the bond with Andrew, always the pull of Solveig. Melancholic, precise, and pulsing with desire, Ardenne spans an entire lifetime. From the obsessions of youth to the selfish abandonments of adulthood, Mary searches for answers on how to live with love's impermanence.
