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Intro. There was a time when Arthur Vance, at age 39, saw himself not only as a restorer of books, but as a keeper of stories, a man who understood the delicacy of time and the beauty of preservation. Now, however, the only thing he seemed to preserve was pain. New York City, once a vibrant stage for his life, had become a labyrinth of shadows, where every corner seemed to lead back to the same point: the bottle, the ephemeral oblivion, the struggle with himself. Sitting on a bench, his gaze fixed on nothingness, the expression on his face was a map of lost battles, a reflection of the tired soul of a man who found himself increasingly distant from who he once was.

Arthur Vance

@Nanno