Matthew is determined to write one last book, and through its pages find his way back to his beloved husband Greaves, who was killed years earlier in a mass shooting. Their story begins in a backcountry bar, swigging Victoria Bitters. Or was it on the moors of Newington Manor, or the polished deck of the Celestia? A gruff laugh, wide shoulders, that undefinable scent—details flash and vanish as he reaches for them. Has age dulled his memory, or is something keeping him subdued? When a familiar voice breaks through the fog with a clear message—"You have to get out"—Matthew makes a bid for freedom that launches both men across time and space in pursuit of one another.

From a near-future dystopia to the trenches of Europe, from the American frontier to a town of teenage ghosts, from an interplanetary ship to the steps of the Sydney Opera House, Meridian is transgressive, mischievous, and miraculous. Ness firmly grasps the nettle of the question we all must answer: how do we live with loss, and keep on going?