"Smell is an illusion, MY FATHER USED TO TELL ME: Invisible molecules in the air converted by my brain into cinnamon, cut grass, burning wood. Heat was a measure of receptors in my skin, and brown was not brown but a combination of light waves captured by cones in my eyes. The world as I knew it, as I felt it to be, was the results of my own personal experience, and so it was up to me to make the best of my understanding of it."
"This sharp debut…sets a bittersweet love story within the cut-throat world of academic research, a great pairing Rothman explores with heart, smarts, and a lot of furtive sex…It's Rothman's aching study of loneliness, heartbreak and forgiveness that resonates."
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"Powerful…a surprisingly literary love story set against the clinical, sterile, and cutthroat environment of an academic research lab."
Library Journal (Starred Review)
"Refreshing…Asks urgent questions about female ambition. Fans of Lab girl have found a worthy successor."
Real Simple
"The pleasure of this novel lies in Rothman's sincere, straightforward, unpretentious prose, wracked with the loneliness of young love."
Kirkus
"A powerful literary page-turner."
Leah Kaminsky author of The Hollow Bones
"A gorgeous novel exploring the intersection of love and science."
Kimberly Martin, author of The Queen of Hearts
