The Book of M: A Novel

An Amazon Best Book of June 2018: What if your shadow inexplicably held memories? And what if, one day, shadows began to disappear? So begins Peng Shepherd’s fascinating debut novel, The Book of M, that explores memory, loss, and a very human apocalypse. One day in a busy Indian market a man’s shadow disappears, and with it his memories begin to unravel. Soon, the affliction spreads across the world, as more and more people slowly lose their memories—and with them their ability to reason. We see this catastrophe unfold through the eyes of Ory and his girlfriend, Max, who have gone into hiding in an abandoned hotel. When Max loses her shadow and disappears into the forest, Ory pursues her and heads south, hoping to find Max before she forgets him. What follows is a spellbinding narrative about love and loss in a nascent world that defies genre and expectations. —Alison Walker