Three young people, born thousands of miles apart, each cut themselves adrift from their birthplaces and set out to discover what - or who - might anchor them in their lives. Over the course of the next ten years, Noah, Joyce and an unnamed narrator will each settle for a time in Montreal, their paths almost criss-crossing and their own stories weaving in and out of other wondrous tales, about such things as a pair of fearsome female pirates, a team of urban archaeologists, several enormous tuna fish, a mysterious book without a cover, and a broken compass whose needle obstinately points to the north Alaskan village of Nikolski. Intricately plotted and shimmering with originality, Nikolski charts the curious courses of migration that can eventually lead to home.

Born in Rivi re-du-Loup, Quebec, Nicolas Dickner won two literary awards for his first published work, the short story collection L'encyclop die du petit cercle. His debut novel, Nikolski (Portobello, 2009) scooped almost every major literary award in Quebec, as well as the Governor General's Literary Award for Translation.