Jane, a loving mother of two, has drowned her toddler son
and is charged with his murder in this powerful examination
of love, loss, and family legacy. When a prosecutor decides
Jane's husband Tom is partially to blame for the death and
charges him with "failure to protect," Tom's attorney
proposes a radical defense. He plans to create reasonable
doubt about his client's alleged guilt by showing that
Jane's genealogy is the cause of her violence, and that she
inherited her latent violence in the same way she might
inherit a talent for music or a predisposition to disease.
He argues that no one could predict or prevent the tragedy,
and that Tom cannot be held responsible. With the help of a
woman gifted with the power of retrocognition—the ability
to see past events through objects once owned by the
deceased—the defense theory of dark biology takes form. An
unforgettable journey through the troubled minds and souls
of Jane's ancestors, spanning decades and continents, this
debut novel deftly illustrates the ways nature and nurture
weave the fabric of one woman's life, and renders a
portrait of one man left in its tragic wake.
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