Few of the eccentric inhabitants of her father's Main Line, Philadelphia estate have much time for Fleur Robins, an awkward child with a devotion to her ailing grandfather, a penchant for flapping and whirling, and a preoccupation with God and the void. While her mother spends much of her time with her hand curled around a wine glass and her abusive father congratulates himself for rescuing babies from "the devil abortionists," Fleur mourns the fallen petals of a rose and savors the patterns of light rippling across the pool. When she fails to save a baby bird abandoned in her garden, a series of events unfold that change everything. For one thing, her handsome new tutor Adam Manus sees her unusual potential and introduces her to Nobel Prize winner Stanley H. Fiske, who brings her out to Caltech to mentor her in quantum physics. Fleur puts her preoccupation with the void to good use, making discoveries that promise to ease humanity's dependency on fossil fuels. But for all her...

Physics wunderkind Fleur Robins, just a little odd and more familiar with multiple universes than complicated affairs of the heart, is cast adrift when her project to address the climate crisis is stalled. Worse still, her Ethiopian-born fiancé Assefa takes off right after her 21st birthday party to track down his father, who's gone missing investigating Ethiopian claims to the Ark of the Covenant. Fleur is left to contend with the puzzle of parallel worlds, an awkward admirer, and her best friend Sammie's entanglement with an abusive boyfriend. Assefa's reconnection with a childhood sweetheart leads Fleur to seek consolation at Jane Goodall's Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve, but it's through a bumbling encounter with her rival that the many worlds of Fleur's life begin to come together.  In the experience of tizita—the interplay of memory, loss, and longing—Fleur is flung into conflicts between science and religion, race and privilege, climate danger and denial,...

How do you maintain your balance in a world turned upside down? Buffeted by dire winds of climate change, Nobel scientist and odd duck extraordinaire Fleur Robins rides rough waves of sexual betrayal and gender fluidity, bullying and loss, as she and her physics team speed up their efforts to ensure a viable future for the world's children—including her own.   Thanks to her fascination with the void; a vivid imagination; a loving, if eccentric, extended family; and a couple of dogs named Hot Sauce and Good Time Charlie, she finds her way to surprising new ground.