Down from heaven

the long version

"A virus has plagued the city and the residents are quarantined. Curfews have been imposed and rumours of government corruption abound. Bureaucratic red tape is creating a food crisis. Laurel and her parents are imprisoned in the basement of their stately home, relying on the generosity of their former gardener, Cheater, for information and supplies. While Laurel and her family struggle just to survive, Cheater becomes intoxicated with his new-found power as a member of the Security and Surveillance Police. Laurel must act as a go-between if she is to liberate her family from their basement cell, so enters the dark and convoluted world of Cheater, discovering in the process startling revelations about herself, politics, art, violence and the man they have come to depend upon"--Back cover.