Otherwise

Agnes needs paid work for her ferry crew and a dependable way across the river. She also wants her son to come home. The council's new crossing offers a future she can almost afford to believe in.

In another city, Den discovers a second man living from the same inherited memories. Both need repairs. Their employer has budgeted for one continuation.

Sima is trying to keep a failing city supplied when her survey meets a place its instruments cannot describe. She signs the field marked empty. On the other side, Siv is at home.

As routes change and old promises come due, five lives meet the limits of the systems that support them. A household becomes a boundary. An archive acquires obligations. A room offered for the night can become a claim on the person sleeping there.

OTHERWISE is a literary speculative novel about work, memory, care, and the difficult freedom of letting another life remain beyond your own.