2024 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (nominee)
A new mother ventures into parallel worlds to find her missing child in this mind-bending novel that turns the joys and anxieties of parenthood into an epic quest, “a powerful page-turner with deep wisdom” (People).
“An original take on motherhood, The Possibilities taps into those primal feelings every nurturer feels—and fears.”—Good Morning America
What if the life you didn’t live was as real as the one you did?
Hannah is having a bad day. A bad month. A bad year? That feels terrible to admit, since her son Jack was born just eight months ago and she loves him more than anything. But ever since his harrowing birth, she can’t shake the feeling that it could have gone the other way. That her baby might not have made it. Terrifying visions of the different paths her life could have taken begin to disrupt her cozy, claustrophobic days with Jack, destabilizing her marriage and making her husband concerned for her mental health. Are the strange things Hannah is seeing just new-mom anxiety, or is something truly weird and sinister afoot? What if Hannah really did unlock a dark force during childbirth?
When Hannah’s worst nightmare comes true and Jack disappears from his crib, she must tap into an extraordinary ability she never knew she had in order to save him: She must enter different versions of her life while holding on to what is most important to her in this one to bring her child back home.
From the intimate joys of parenthood to the cosmic awe of the multiverse, The Possibilities is an ingenious and wildly suspenseful novel that stares down into the dizzying depths of maternal love, vulnerability, and strength.
Genre: Science Fiction
“An original take on motherhood, The Possibilities taps into those primal feelings every nurturer feels—and fears.”—Good Morning America
What if the life you didn’t live was as real as the one you did?
Hannah is having a bad day. A bad month. A bad year? That feels terrible to admit, since her son Jack was born just eight months ago and she loves him more than anything. But ever since his harrowing birth, she can’t shake the feeling that it could have gone the other way. That her baby might not have made it. Terrifying visions of the different paths her life could have taken begin to disrupt her cozy, claustrophobic days with Jack, destabilizing her marriage and making her husband concerned for her mental health. Are the strange things Hannah is seeing just new-mom anxiety, or is something truly weird and sinister afoot? What if Hannah really did unlock a dark force during childbirth?
When Hannah’s worst nightmare comes true and Jack disappears from his crib, she must tap into an extraordinary ability she never knew she had in order to save him: She must enter different versions of her life while holding on to what is most important to her in this one to bring her child back home.
From the intimate joys of parenthood to the cosmic awe of the multiverse, The Possibilities is an ingenious and wildly suspenseful novel that stares down into the dizzying depths of maternal love, vulnerability, and strength.
Genre: Science Fiction
Praise for this book
"Unpredictable and a page-turner, equal parts passion and philosophy, The Possibilities is the tense and twisty tale of an imperiled child, a crumbling marriage, and the desperate woman who is trying to save them both." - Karen Joy Fowler
"The Possibilities hooked me immediately with its ingenious premise and a story so suspenseful that I had no choice but to ignore everything else to read to its stunning conclusion. Yael Goldstein-Love is an enormous talent." - Edan Lepucki
"The Possibilities explores motherhood from a place of such raw, animalistic love and with such emotional veracity that I, at times, had to put the book down and take deep breaths. It calls to mind Octavia Butler, Madeleine L'Engle, and most of all Philip K. Dick." - Joanna Rakoff
"The Possibilities had me intrigued, then gripped, and by its end, greatly moved by its exploration of the quite literally existential stakes of loving another person. Within hours of finishing this novel, I found myself quoting it in conversation. . . . A bravura, unforgettable performance." - Namwali Serpell
"At once a profoundly insightful exploration of motherhood in all its joys and sorrows and the best kind of speculative fiction . . . The combination will bend your mind and your heart." - Ayelet Waldman
"The Possibilities hooked me immediately with its ingenious premise and a story so suspenseful that I had no choice but to ignore everything else to read to its stunning conclusion. Yael Goldstein-Love is an enormous talent." - Edan Lepucki
"The Possibilities explores motherhood from a place of such raw, animalistic love and with such emotional veracity that I, at times, had to put the book down and take deep breaths. It calls to mind Octavia Butler, Madeleine L'Engle, and most of all Philip K. Dick." - Joanna Rakoff
"The Possibilities had me intrigued, then gripped, and by its end, greatly moved by its exploration of the quite literally existential stakes of loving another person. Within hours of finishing this novel, I found myself quoting it in conversation. . . . A bravura, unforgettable performance." - Namwali Serpell
"At once a profoundly insightful exploration of motherhood in all its joys and sorrows and the best kind of speculative fiction . . . The combination will bend your mind and your heart." - Ayelet Waldman
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