A Perfect Life

A luminous and insightful novel that considers the moral complexities of scientific discovery and the sustaining nature of love. A young researcher at MIT, Jane Weiss is obsessed with finding the genetic marker for Valentine’s Disease, a neurodegenerative disorder. Her pursuit is deeply personal—Valentine’s killed her mother, and she and her freewheeling sister, Laurel, could be genetic carriers; each has a fifty percent chance of developing the disease. Having seen firsthand the devastating effect Valentine’s had on her parents’ marriage, Jane is terrified she might become a burden on whomever she falls in love with and so steers clear of romantic entanglement. Then, the summer before her father’s second wedding, Jane falls hard for her future stepbrother, Willie. But Willie’s father also died from Valentine’s, raising the odds that their love will end in tragedy.

When Willie bolts at a crucial moment in their relationship, Jane becomes obsessed with finding the genetic marker to the disease that threatens both their families. But if she succeeds in making history, will she and her sister have the courage to face the truth this newfound knowledge could hold for their lives? A Perfect Life is a novel of scientific and self discovery, about learning how to embrace life and love, no matter what may come. Eileen Pollack conjures a thought-provoking, emotionally resonant story of one woman’s brilliance and bravery as she confronts her deepest fears and desires—and comes to accept the inevitable and the unexpected.

A young researcher at mit, Jane Weiss is obsessed with finding the genetic marker for Valentine’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder. Her pursuit is deeply personal—Valentine’s killed her mother, and she and her freewheeling sister, Laurel, could be genetic carriers; each has a fifty percent chance of developing the disease. Having seen firsthand the devastating effect Valentine’s had on her parents’ marriage, Jane is terrified she might become a burden on whomever she falls in love with and so steers clear of romantic entanglement. Then, the summer before her father’s second wedding, Jane falls hard for her future stepbrother, Willie. But Willie’s father also died from Valentine’s, raising the odds that their love will end in tragedy.

When Willie bolts at a crucial moment in their relationship, Jane becomes obsessed with finding the genetic marker to the disease that threatens both their families. But if she succeeds in making history, will she and her sister have the courage to face the truth this newfound knowledge could hold for their lives? 

A Perfect Life is a novel of scientific and self discovery, about learning how to embrace life and love, no matter what may come. Eileen Pollack conjures a fascinating, emotionally resonant story of one woman’s brilliance and bravery as she confronts her deepest fears and desires—and comes to accept the inevitable and the unexpected.

Advance Praise for A Perfect Life

“Eileen Pollack’s highly compelling new novel takes on searing questions of fate and family as Jane Weiss, a brilliant research biologist, races to map the gene for a crushing disease that ticks at the center of her life like a time bomb. Pollack’s pacing is dramatic and the story line particularly gripping, and yet in a way Jane’s challenge is deeply universal: how to find the courage and sheer will it takes to grasp the keenly precious moments of life even as they tremble and threaten to shake us apart.”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife and Circling the Sun

“A Perfect Life probes how we live in the face of uncertainty and the ways risk can both disable and empower us. In her latest novel, Eileen Pollack has crafted a tender exploration of family love that is as smart and thought-provoking as it is moving.”—Celeste Ng, author of Everything I Never Told You

“A tense scientific mystery propels this gripping novel, but what resonates most powerfully are the keenly observed discoveries Jane makes about even deeper mysteries: the risks and pleasures of being human, and the nuances—as well as the costs—of love.”—Kim Edwards, author of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

“A Perfect Life is a novel about nothing short of what it means to live and love in this world. Out of the most basic building blocks of the universe, Pollack—with incredible wisdom, emotional subtlety, and a scientist’s unflinching eye combined with a lover’s determined passion—has written not only an important book, but a wildly absorbing one. There’s nothing more to be asked of a novel than what’s delivered here: suspense, desire, a glimpse into a world few ever see—and, because of this writer’s gifts, the opportunity to live in it for a while, to be a part of history in the making in that place and time, and to experience and understand all of its implications. A Perfect Life offers that rare gift of the best literature. The reader looks up after the last sentence with a new appreciation for and understanding of the world in which she’s living.”—Laura Kasischke, author of In a Perfect World

“Like Richard Powers’s The Gold Bug Variations and Allegra Goodman’s Intuition, Eileen Pollack’s compelling novel offers an intimate portrait of scientists engaged in research with the potential to change all our lives—and equally engaged in relationships that change their own lives. A Perfect Life fascinates on many levels.”—Andrea Barrett, author of Ship Fever and Servants of the Map