BookPage Top Pick in Fiction, June 2018

Imagine a world in which shadows are more than simple physical phenomena that occur whenever light strikes a surface. What if our shadows were the guardians of all our memories and the core essence of who we are? What kind of darkness might descend upon the earth if one day people's shadows suddenly began to vanish without an explanation, taking with them biographical details and threatening to unravel reality? This is the terrifying premise of Peng Shepherd's outstanding and unforgettable The Book of M.

Our guides to this dystopian future are Ory and his wife, Max, who have quarantined themselves in a mountain lodge in Virginia while the mysterious plague of shadowlessness gradually sweeps across the planet. Despite all their safeguards, Max has recently lost her shadow, and it is only a matter of time before she begins to lose herself. In an attempt to stave off her forgetting, Ory gives Max a tape recorder to act as a repository for her memories. However, one day Ory returns from a scavenging trip to discover Max gone, prompting him to venture into a savage, chaotic world on a desperate and foolhardy mission to reunite with her. Even if the day should come when Max no longer remembers him, Ory knows he will never be able to forget or give up on Max.

Shepherd has constructed an exceedingly thoughtful and clever story that is perfectly paced and intricately plotted, producing a narrative filled with a genuine sense of urgency, thrilling twists and jaw-dropping revelations. Instantly absorbing, The Book of M is a scary, surprising, sad and sentimental story that will be deeply felt by readers while capturing their imaginations and hearts.

Readers shouldn't be surprised if the only times they can bear to put this book down are when they feel the need to confirm that their shadows are still firmly intact.

 

This article was originally published in the June 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In a scary new world where losing one's shadow presages a complete loss of memory, Max runs from husband Ory when her shadow fades, afraid to bring him grief. Big debut: a 50,000-copy first printing.

The forgetting begins when Hemu Joshi loses his shadow in India. Then a boy in Brazil. Shadows disappear from all of Panama seemingly at once. Scientists attempt to learn about the new condition when they match Hemu with an American man with complete memory loss. The symptoms start small, then it's big things, such as forgetting the names of family members, how to speak, and eventually, oneself. After Boston is ravaged by the phenomenon, Naz finds solace in a newly abandoned building; on their mother's orders, Rojan travels from Tehran to find Naz. Together, the siblings flee. Ory and his wife, Max, have been hiding from the plague in the woods for two years when Max's shadow disappears and she runs away. Ory then ventures into the wilderness to find her. Rumors are written on signs and buildings and circle through traveler groups: "The One Who Gathers" is in New Orleans, bad things happen in DC, and don't go near the water. VERDICT First-time novelist Shepard has crafted an engaging and twisty tale about memory's impact on who or what we become. For aficionados of literary dystopian fiction such as Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven or those who enjoy stories of cross-country travel. [See Prepub Alert, 12/11/17.]—Michelle Gilbert Doshi, Lake Forest Lib., IL

An apocalyptic future in which an epidemic dubbed the Forgetting robs large swaths of the world's population of their shadows and memories—causing them to work dangerous magic—sets the scene for Shepherd's exciting debut. Husband and wife Ory and Max have been holed up in an abandoned hotel outside Arlington, Va., for two years, living hand-to-mouth off beef jerky and scavenged goods, and hiding from the predatory world outside, where the shadowless wreak havoc and misremember the old world into a new one (in one instance, a shadowless forgets what a house looks like; it is rebuilt with its roof on the floor). Then Max's shadow disappears. The couple devises protective rules, and Ory gives Max a tape recorder to document her memories. But when Max escapes, Ory sets out on a terrifying journey to find her. He is beset by enraged shadowless with electric guts; joins a book-collecting, shadowed army; and meets archer Mahnaz, who has a fascinating backstory of her own. Ory and Max separately gather stray rumors of a mythologized figure chasing a cure for shadowlessness in New Orleans, though it's uncertain whether they'll reach the city without dying. Though its characters sometimes slide into tropes, Shepard's debut is graceful and riveting, slowly peeling back layers of an intricately constructed and unsettling alternate future. (June)