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In the heart of San Francisco's Mission District, an eclectic and dazzling cast of characters gather in a house share. Burning off their pasts to reinvent themselves in California, here is a lovably unusual and richly drawn group of friends: Marlowe, a political lesbian ripe for a radical life change; Daa, her devoted lover, ever willing to forgive; a stubbornly heterosexual male massage therapist; Sheba, a clueless innocent in paradise; Dante, the gentle troubador who specialises in unrequited romance, and Vic, primed for lessons in love, San Franscisco-style. THE CALIFORNIA BOOK OF THE DEAD follows their lives as they grapple with love and liberation, substance and soul in a landscape where nothing is what it seems. In a land of spiritual soirees, sexual bonding, and pagan and Buddhist ritual gatherings, they play out their destinies as the rude realities of life and death intervene. Tim Farrington's phenomenal debut novel illuminates our times with loving accuracy, unfurling a story both magical and true.