From a very young age, Lucinda Esmerelda Hernandez-Haddad seems to be destined for great things. Born of a disowned Muslim father who excelled in architecture and an artistically gifted mother of Spanish Jewish descent, she inherits all the best qualities from her parents. Though she struggles to fit in, she eventually makes friends with Joey Sanders, an autistic boy that seems to share a fundamental understanding with her. Keeping a secret truth to themselves about the nature of the universe, they grow into adults and then go their separate ways as life dictates. As adults, Joey and Lucinda reunite and begin assembling a cadre of highly specialized, highly skilled people in order to enact great change. While that change takes the form of a bid for the Presidency of the United States, the stakes are truly much, much higher.

Leaping across generations, locations, and genres, it’s hard to categorize the narrative of this story into a tidy box. It begins as a purely human story of starting a family with just a touch of mysticism thrown in. Eventually, science fiction and political intrigue enter the equation, but there is a common thread that connects everything: humanity has a bond that ties us all together. Despite racism and wars and inequality, people are all fundamentally the same, and we should come together rather than isolate ourselves. In that sense, it’s appropriate that this is a story that won’t be fenced in and separated from other works of fiction. Readers will need to be prepared for an emotional and surprising thrill ride with this book, but they will be more than rewarded for their patience and emotional perseverance through the bleaker moments.

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