Sophia's earliest memory is her death. She remembers the quiet of the end and the creeping, panicked suspicion that something precious was missing.
Sophia is 23 years old . . . or 2,397, depending on how you look at it. She recalls every life she's lived. It's a strange and often lonely existence, but at least she has her adopted family: five sisters who have endured since before the universe first blinked into being.
The most reckless of them is Emma, the Moon.
Hungry for companionship, Emma descends from the sky into New Orleans, where she meets Simon-Sophia's best friend, a poet who lives only one life at a time. To Simon, Emma gleams like she's made of fire, and he impulsively offers her a garnet ring containing his heartbreak and a handful of memories.
But Simon's memories are unlike anyone else's. And with this accidental key, Emma now has the perfect escape from her lonely existence.
As Simon's mind begins to unravel and the Moon's glow threatens to vanish from the sky, Sophia must test the fragile bonds of an ancient family-before her sister takes everything that makes Simon himself, and the world is left without the Moon's light.
Spanning centuries and delving deep into vast inner worlds, Welch's debut novel is a poetic fable about the magic of words, the weight of memory, and the paradoxes of family. For readers of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Piranesi.
About the Author :
Brian Welch is a novelist and artist based in Austin, Texas. He earned a BFA in visual art from the University of Texas and an MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where he created handmade books exploring memory and archives. He spent most of his career as a carpenter and woodworker. In 2020, he returned to school and earned a graduate certificate in publishing from the University of Denver. Currently he works as a project manager in publishing, and spends most mornings chipping away at his second novel before the rest of the word is awake.
