"In the mid-19th century, the itinerant Vlad D'Agostino arrives in New York City after a long stay in Japan, bringing with him a samurai mask and a terminal case of tuberculosis. In Manhattan, he learns of an innovative doctor who claims to have found a treatment for the disease using 'alpine air, ' but Vlad will have to travel to the physician's clinic in the Rocky Mountains, in a place known as Never Summer.... On his quest to save himself and prolong his life, he inadvertently makes discoveries about his traumatic past--and about how to live more fully in the present.... Vlad is a...