PRINCIPLES OF (E)MOTION

A brilliant mathematician falls in love with a construction worker who’s wanted for murder.

Dr. Meg Brightwood, a mathematical prodigy, left academia 15 years ago and has been living as a recluse ever since. She hated teaching, hated being discounted because she was pretty, and hated living in the shadow of her father, the first Dr. Brightwood. She’s been hiding out in her recently deceased grandmother’s house, working on Frieholdt’s conjecture, a mathematical problem widely regarded as unsolvable. Except, one day, Meg solves it. Overcome by her achievement, she hides the proof in a household safe. Shortly thereafter, she hears a commotion and sees a carpenter who’s working on her neighbor’s renovation being attacked by another man. Running outside, Meg scares off the assailant, only to discover that the man she’s defended is Isaac Wells, her first great love. She takes Isaac in, and soon even math feels unimportant. Even when Isaac reveals that he’s wanted for the murder of his sister’s abusive boyfriend, Meg doesn’t falter in her devotion. When she finds her Frieholdt notes missing, though, Meg finally mobilizes to assert her claim to credit for the work while simultaneously clearing Isaac’s name. Told entirely in the first person from Meg’s perspective, this plot-driven narrative moves at a steady clip. Despite readers’ need to suspend their disbelief at several points, such as when the two make improbable escapes from law enforcement or mathematical facts don’t quite add up, they’ll find watching these characters discover common ground to be both poignant and compelling. As suspense mounts in Meg’s fight for her intellectual integrity, author Read also offers a scathing critique of misogyny and corruption in academia. Tackling issues of mental health, self-doubt, and second chances, this romantic story about the connection between a grand theoretical thinker and a carpenter is entirely compelling.

A delightfully mathematical take on the opposites-attract paradigm.