The Gold Bug Variations

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Overstory, an enthralling story about desire, new love and the mysteries of science


An enthralling story about desire, new love and the mysteries of science from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Overstory

Stuart Ressler, a brilliant biologist, sets out in 1957 to crack the genetic code. His efforts are sidetracked by other, more intractable codes - social, moral, musical, spiritual - and he falls in love with a member of his research team.

Years later, another young man and woman team up to investigate a different mystery - why did the eminently promising Ressler suddenly disappear from the world of science?

Strand by strand, these two love stories twist about each other in a double helix of desire.

'A love story of charm and substance, brimming over with ideas, yet anchored in emotional truth' Sunday Telegraph