The working title of this novel was Susurrus, a Latin noun with sparse usage in English today. It denotes a whispering, murmuring, or babbling, whether of bees, water, trees, or humans. Christian moralists found the word appropriate to mean slander or calumny, the false, reputation-destroying susurration characteristic of rumor and gossip. The word also expresses the deepest murmurings of the heart, the whisper language of friendship. This story rides the wings of susurrus (whispering) through all of its onomatopoetic richness.