The network is a diagram of lines and dots. Each dot is a person. Each line is a relationship. The network exists in the East End of London in the year 1985, in the time of Thatcher, when the docks are closing and the factories are closing and the community is closing around itself like a wound, and the wounds are the nodes and the relationships are the lines and the lines are fraying and the fraying is the story and the story is told by five people who are all connected to a central node and the central node is Liam and the node breaks and the network collapses and the collapse is the story and there is no single protagonist because the story is the network and the network is the protagonist and the protagonist is the hub and the hub is Liam and Liam is breaking.

Perspective One: Maria Santos

Maria is forty-two years old and she runs a shop in Brick Lane that sells secondhand clothes and the shop is small and the clothes are from the nineteen seventies and the seventies are alive in the shop in the form of bell-bottom pants and polyester shirts and feather boas and the boas are the story and the story is decoration and decoration is the thing that people who have nothing decorate themselves with and decoration is resistance and resistance is the story.

Maria knows Liam because Liam comes into the shop every Saturday morning and buys a shirt and a pair of trousers and a belt and the shirts are always white and the trousers are always dark and the belt is always brown and the consistency is the story and the story is routine and routine is the thing that holds a network together because routine creates lines and lines connect nodes and the nodes are people and people are connected and the connection is the story and the story is Maria knowing Liam and Liam knowing Maria and the knowing is a line in the network and the line is strong because it has existed for five years and five years of Saturday mornings creates a line that is thick and visible and the visibility is the story.

Liam works as a porter at the docks. The docks are closing. The closing is the story and the story is Thatcher and the story is the end of an era and the era was working-class and the working-class is ending and the ending is the node breaking and the breaking is the story and Maria feels the breaking because her shop is near the docks and the docks are empty and the empty is the loss of customers and the customers are nodes and the nodes are connecting to other networks and the other networks are not in the East End and the not being in the East End is the fraying of the lines and the fraying is the story and the story is Maria watching Liam every Saturday and noticing that Liam is tired and the tiredness is a line that connects Liam to exhaustion and exhaustion connects to the docks and the docks connect to closing and closing connects to ending and ending connects to the node breaking and the breaking is happening now.

Liam has been different lately. Different means the lines are changing. Different means Liam is spending less time at the shop and more time somewhere else and the somewhere else is not in the East End and the not being in the East End is the line weakening and the weakening is the story and Maria does not know why Liam is different and does not know where Liam is going and does not know that Liam has discovered that he is the son of a billionaire and does not know that Liam received a letter from a genetic testing company in New York and does not know anything except that Liam is different and the difference is the node breaking and the breaking is the network collapsing and the collapse is the story and there is no single protagonist, there are five perspectives and the perspectives are the nodes and the nodes are breaking and the breaking is the story.

Perspective Two: Tom O'Brien

Tom is twenty-nine years old and he works as a dockworker and the docks are closing and the closing is happening in slow motion and the slow motion is the story and the story is a man watching his life dissolve in real time and the dissolution is the story and Tom and Liam work together at the docks and the working together is a line in the network and the line is strong because they have worked together for three years and three years of shared labor creates a bond that is stronger than friendship and weaker than family and the in-between is the story and the in-between is where most lines in a working-class network exist, not in the strong nodes of family and the not in the weak nodes of acquaintance but in the middle, in the shared labor, in the shared exhaustion, in the shared knowledge that the docks are closing and the sharing is the line and the line is fraying.

Tom knows Liam is different because Liam has stopped talking at the docks. Liam used to talk. Liam used to make jokes about the crates and the cargo and the foreman and the jokes were the lines that connected Liam to the other workers and the connection is weakening and the weakening is the node breaking and the breaking is the story.

Liam has been receiving phone calls. The calls come in the evening, after work, and Liam steps outside to take them and the outside is a different space from the inside and the different space is the story and the story is Liam connecting to a different network and the different network is not the dock network and the not being part of the dock network is the line dissolving and the dissolution is the story and Tom watches Liam step outside and the watching is a line and the line is Tom's concern and the concern is the story and the story is Tom knowing that his friend is leaving and knowing that the leaving is the network collapsing and knowing that there is no single protagonist because the story is the network and the network is breaking and the breaking is everyone's story and no one's.

Tom confronts Liam one evening. He finds Liam on the street outside the pub where the workers go after shifts. Tom says, What is going on? Liam says, Nothing. Tom says, You are different. Liam says, I am tired. Tom says, It is not tiredness. Liam looks at Tom and looks through Tom and looks past Tom to a point in space that Tom cannot see and the point is the different network and the different network is the Thorne network and the Thorne network is not in the East End and the not being in the East End is the story and the story is the hub node breaking and the breaking is the collapse and the collapse is the end of the dock workers' network and the end is the story and the story is Tom standing on a street in the East End and watching his friend become someone else and the becoming is the node breaking and the breaking is the story and there is no villain, only the network dissolving and the dissolving is the system and the system is the story.

Perspective Three: Sarah Chen

Sarah is thirty-one years old and she works as a teacher at a primary school in Stepney and the school is underfunded and the underfunding is the story and the story is Thatcher and the story is the government cutting budgets and the cuts are lines being removed from a network diagram and the removed lines are the story and the story is Sarah watching her students every day and the students are nodes and the nodes are connected by learning and the learning is the line and the line is being cut and the cutting is the story and Sarah does not know about Liam's network and does not know about the Thorne connection and does not know about the Contingency file and does not know about Julian or Harrison or Manhattan or skyscrapers or the East River or any of the things that are the other network, the high-network, the network of wealth and power and buildings that scrape the sky and the scraping is the story and the story is two networks that do not intersect and the not intersecting is the space between the East End and Manhattan and the space is the void and the void is chosen and the choosing is Liam's and the choosing is the story.

Sarah knows Liam because Liam is her brother-in-law. Sarah is married to David, and David is Liam's friend from the docks, and the marriage is a line that connects Sarah to Liam through David, and the line is weak because Sarah and Liam have never spoken directly and the never speaking is the absence of a line and the absence is the story and the story is a network with missing connections and the missing connections are as important as the existing ones because the existing lines show what is and the missing lines show what is not and the not is the story and the story is Sarah existing in Liam's network only through David and the through is the line and the line is weak and the weakness is the story.

Sarah hears from David that Liam is leaving. David calls her from the East End and his voice is different and the different voice is the line changing and the changing is the story and the story is David saying, Liam is gone. Sarah says, Gone where? David says, Gone. And the gone is the node breaking and the breaking is the network collapsing and the collapse is the story and the story is Sarah sitting in her house in Stepney and listening to her husband talk about Liam on the phone and the talking is a line and the line is grief and the grief is for a person she barely knows and the barely knowing is the story and the story is the weakness of the line and the weakness is the fragility of networks and the fragility is the story and there is no single protagonist because the story is the network and the network is made of weak lines and strong lines and missing lines and the lines are the story and the story is the hub breaking and the breaking is everyone and no one.

Perspective Four: Julian Webb

Julian is forty-five years old and he is the COO of Thorne Enterprises and the enterprise is a network of buildings and employees and contracts and money and the money is the central node and the node is Julian and Julian is the hub of the money network and the hub is powerful and the power is the story and the story is Julian viewing Liam as a node that has become unstable and the instability is the story and the story is Julian's Contingency file, which is a document of network analysis, mapping the relationships between Liam and everyone in his life, including Maria and Tom and Sarah and David and the landlord and the shop supervisor and the priest at the church Liam occasionally visits and the visiting is a line and the line is documented in the Contingency file and the documentation is the story and the story is Julian collecting data about a man who is his biological nephew and the nephew is a liability and the liability is a node that is destabilizing the network and the destabilization is the story and the story is Julian's response, which is to compile the Contingency file and prepare scenarios for neutralizing the liability, and the neutralizing is the story and the story is reasonable and the reasonableness is the story and the story is no villain, only a system protecting itself, and the self-protection is the story and the story is the network resisting change and the resistance is the story and the story is the hub node breaking and the breaking is Julian's calculation and the calculation is the story and there is no single protagonist because the story is the network and the network includes Julian and Julian is a node and the nodes are breaking and the breaking is the system and the system is the story.

Julian receives a report from a private investigator. The report says that Liam has contacted a genetic testing service and received results indicating a biological relationship to Harrison Thorne. The report says that Liam has traveled to New York once, in the past month, and the travel is a line connecting the East End to Manhattan and the connection is the story and the story is Julian reading the report and the reading is a line and the line is data and the data is the Contingency file and the file is growing and the growing is the story and the story is Liam becoming a node in the Thorne network and the becoming is the destabilization and the destabilization is the story and the story is Julian deciding that the node must be managed and the managing is the Contingency and the Contingency is the system protecting itself and the self-protection is reasonable and the reasonableness is the story and the story is the network resisting the new connection and the resistance is the breaking and the breaking is the story and there is no villain, only a system protecting its structure, and the structure is the story and the story is the hub node breaking and the breaking is Julian's doing and Julian's not doing and the doing and the not doing are the system and the system is the story.

Perspective Five: Liam Ashworth

Liam is twenty-six years old and he works at the docks and the docks are closing and the closing is the story and the story is the node breaking and the breaking is Liam and Liam is the hub and the hub is breaking and the breaking is the story and there is no single protagonist but Liam is the hub and the hub breaking is the central event and the central event is the story and the story is Liam feeling the lines fraying around him and the fraying is the network collapsing and the collapse is the story and Liam knows that he is Harrison Thorne's son and the knowing is a line connecting Liam to Harrison and the connection is new and the newness is the story and the story is Liam in New York sitting in an office on Park Avenue looking at a man who is his father and the father is a stranger and the stranger is the story and the story is Liam returning to the East End and the return is a line and the line is weakened by the New York trip and the weakening is the story and the story is Maria noticing the change and Tom confronting him and Sarah hearing from David and Julian compiling the Contingency file and all of these reactions are the network responding to the new connection and the response is the story and the story is the system resisting the new node and the resistance is the breaking and the breaking is Liam choosing to leak the Contingency file to the press and the leaking is the final line and the line is the story and the story is the network collapsing and the collapse is the void and the void is chosen and the choosing is the only action that is purely Liam's and the purely is the story and the story is the hub node breaking and the breaking is everyone and no one and the no one is the void and the void is the story and the story is told by five people and the people are the nodes and the nodes are breaking and the breaking is the network and the network is the protagonist and the protagonist is gone and the gone is the story and the story is the lines and the lines are the story and the story is the end of the East End network and the end is the beginning of the void and the void is Liam and Liam is the hub and the hub is broken and the broken is the story.