Shark Heart: A Love Story

For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last. A few weeks after their wedding, Lewis receives a rare diagnosis. He will retain most of his consciousness, memories, and intellect, but his physical body will gradually turn into a great white shark. As Lewis develops the features and impulses of one of the most predatory creatures in the ocean, his complicated artist´s heart struggles to make peace with his unfulfilled dreams. At first, Wren internally resists her husband´s fate. Is there a way for them to be together after Lewis changes? Then, a glimpse of Lewis´s developing carnivorous nature activates long-repressed memories for Wren, whose story vacillates between her childhood living on a houseboat in Oklahoma, her time with her college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds. Woven throughout this "heart-wringing" (Adam Roberts, internationally bestselling author of Salt) novel is the story of Wren´s mother, Angela, who becomes pregnant with Wren at fifteen in an abusive relationship amidst her parents´ crumbling marriage. In the present, all of Wren´s grief eventually collides, and she is forced to make an impossible choice. A sweeping love story that is at once lyrical and funny, airy and visceral, Shark Heart is an unforgettable, gorgeous novel about life´s perennial questions, the fragility of memories, finding joy amidst grief, and creating a meaningful life. This daring debut marks the arrival of a wildly talented new writer abounding with originality, humor, and heart.