From a broken bottle traces of perfume still emanate

"[Book title] is a lifelong epistolary novel that unfolds through N.'s intimate letters to the mysterious Angel of Dust. Unexpected, profound happenings occur as N. delves into music and art and the goings-on of his transmorphic Los Angeles-based jazz ensemble, in which he is a composer and multi-instrumentalist. The story opens in July 1978 with a dream of a haunting Archie Shepp solo, and closes in September 1982 on a glass-bottomed boat borne aloft by the music."--Back cover.