Dissolution

A mind-blowing science-fiction novel that plumbs the edges of memory and time. The story begins with Maggie trying to support her husband, Stanley, as his dementia progresses. Maggie meets a mysterious man who tells her that her husband doesn’t actually have dementia; instead, Stanley’s memory is waning because he is the subject of a secret experiment from which he must be rescued. The novel alternates between Maggie’s story in the present day and flashbacks to Stanley’s past as he grows up to be the brilliant man his wife now knows and loves. Stanley’s story is that of a gifted child who finds his way to a prestigious school as a scholarship student, and from there encounters a quirky professor who’s willing to take him under his wing. The mystery of Stanley’s mind and memory unravels as Maggie uses the stranger’s technology to travel back in time and space through her own recollections, in a novel about memory, what it means to be human, and the nature of time itself.