The North-Eastern United States

This is the novel's primary, broad-strokes setting - the region and country in which it takes place. The narrative never identifies the community in which Samuel and his family make their home, but descriptions of other geographical elements in the book suggest that the pre-quarantine / pre-exile sections of the book take place in this area.

Rochester, NY

Much of the post-quarantine, post-exile section of the novel (essentially its latter two thirds) takes place in an area just outside of Rochester, a city on the North-Central edge of New York State and on the southern border of Lake Ontario. Rochester is referred to throughout the narrative as a source of government edicts, or orders, issued in response to the outbreak of language toxicity.

Forsythe

Forsythe is the name of the facility where LeBov (Murphy) does his research, and where Samuel goes after he is told to...