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Strange and beautiful, this engrossing tale cross-crosses time and space in the voice of two intimately-voiced first-person POV narrators.

First we have Dr Henry Byrd, a psychiatrist with a traumatic past, who appears to have many secrets that may or may not intersect the world of his current patient – a woman who is quite likely the most unusual client Henry will face.

Henry’s patient, Jane O, thirty-eight years old, is suffering from the life-long effects of her prodigious and excessive memory, a phenomenon known as “Hyperthymesia”. This condition has resulted in Jane’s deep and profound “loneliness of the soul”, which may be related to her recent eerie psychological behavior – behavior that Dr Byrd soon finds to be as deeply troubling as it is unexplainable.

As Jane begins to tells her inner story via a diary written for her infant son — a backdrop that may help explain some of her current challenges — we, the reader, get a fascinating peek into her extraordinary world, — a tale that counterbalances the (initially at least) more rationally-focused confusion of Dr Byrd.

How Jane and Henry come to resolve their respective narratives is a story well worth reading, and one that kept this reader deeply absorbed (and guessing all the way) throughout this puzzling and expertly-crafted narrative.

Without giving the plot away (no spoilers here) this is a tale that will delight explorers of the human mind — as it challenges linear thinking, dissolving the boundaries between the relationship of human identity, memory, trauma, and our mental experiences and choices — and opens the door on a world that will ask far more questions than it will answer.

A great big thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC of this mind-bending book. All thoughts presented are my own.