Plowing the dark

''Part of the joy of reading Powers over the years has been his capacity for revelation'' Colson WhiteheadOn the west coast of America, virtual reality researchers race to complete the Cavern, a plain white room that can become a jungle, a painting or a vast Byzantine cathedral. Adie Klarpol, a disillusioned artist, is fascinated by this cutting-edge technology.In a war-torn city on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, an American teacher - Taimur Martin - is held hostage, chained to a radiator in an empty white room.What can possibly join two such remote places? Only the shared imagination, a room that these two people unwittingly build in common...''Spectacular... Riveting'' New York Times