The Institute of Thinkery are on the verge of a ground-breaking, technological breakthrough.
An international Thinkery network.
The year is 1892. Life in Manchester is hard for impoverished carpenter Edwin Cooper and his wife Betsy. Hope of a better life arrives when The Institute of Thinkery recruits Betsy for a new research programme, and posts Edwin overseas to staff Outpost 9 - a tiny cabin on a tiny island in the Wadden Sea.
The pay is good but the work is hard. It gets even harder when two bodies wash up onshore, casting dark shadows over his life, bringing unsettling doubts and unanswered questions to all he needs to hold true. Is Betsy safe?
Desperate to be reunited with Betsy, Edwin battles against distance, heartbreak and an Institute that will stop at nothing to keep him from uncovering the dark truth behind their new Thinkery technologies.