From the Booker-shortlisted author of The Overstory and Bewilderment

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

'Powers has triumphantly restored ... the philosophical novel' OBSERVER

'A heroic tour de force' NEW YORK TIMES

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

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

Strand by strand, these two love stories intertwine in a double helix of desire in an enthralling tale about new love and the mysteries of science.