A chance encounter triggers memory

The novel opens in Mexico City, where the narrator,JJ, is jolted by the sight of a neon pharmacy cross displaying the date—February 29th, a leap year, and the birthday of a lost lover,Thomas. This moment, charged with the supernatural, compelsJJto begin writing the story of their relationship, a chant for the dead, a plainsong. The act of writing is both penance and resurrection, a way to process grief and guilt. The city''s nocturnal energy, the narrator''s intoxication, and the sense of being haunted by the past set the tone for a narrative that will blur the lines between fiction, biography, and confession. The compulsion to write is not just about memory, but about survival—about crawling out of perdition by giving shape to the chaos of love and loss.