THE UNSEEN WORLD
The moving story of a daughter’s quest to discover the truth about her beloved father’s hidden past.
Ada Sibelius is raised by David, her brilliant, eccentric, socially inept single father, who directs a computer science lab in 1980s-era Boston. Home-schooled, Ada accompanies David to work every day; by twelve, she is a painfully shy prodigy. The lab begins to gain acclaim at the same time that David's mysterious history comes into question. When his mind begins to falter, leaving Ada virtually an orphan, she is taken in by one of David's colleagues. Soon after she embarks on a mission to uncover her father’s secrets: a process that carries her from childhood to adulthood. What Ada discovers on her journey into a virtual universe will keep the reader riveted until The Unseen World's heart-stopping, fascinating conclusion.
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The Unseen World has appeared on "Best of the Year" lists published by:
The New Yorker
The BBC
Publishers Weekly
Audible.com
Vox
The American Library Association
PRAISE FOR THE UNSEEN WORLD
"Liz Moore's captivating new page-turner . . . is a wry, gentle coming-of-age story and an intriguing glimpse into the development of artificial intelligence and virtual reality, both early on and as envisioned for the future. It is also an incisive, insightful, and compassionate examination of the complexities of family and identity."
KAREN CAMPBELL, BOSTON GLOBE
"Fiercely intelligent...Moore evocatively renders the remoteness of even our closest loved ones."
LOUISA HALL, NEW YORK TIMES
"A striking examination of family, memory, and technology . . . remarkable and heartbreaking . . . Mysteries build, and Moore's gift for storytelling excels. This is a smart, emotionally powerful literary page-turner."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (STARRED REVIEW)
"Intelligent and brilliantly absorbing . . . Filled with achingly memorable scenes . . . and beautifully nuanced writing, Moore's (Heft, 2012) latest is a stunner in its precise take on identity and the compromises even the most righteous among us must make to survive life's challenges with grace."
POORNIMA APTE, BOOKLIST (STARRED REVIEW)
"The Unseen World is a deeply compelling novel about the intimate mystery of family. The story of how the brilliant Ada decodes the past and grapples with her eccentric father's legacy is gripping, touching and wonderfully intelligent."
DANA SPIOTTA, author of STONE ARABIA
"I was so thoroughly engaged with The Unseen World. What a wonderful, fulfilling, riveting read, alive with complex characters, a thrilling story, wit, and above all, a deep sense of compassion."
JAMI ATTENBERG, author of SAINT MAZIE
"I absolutely love this wise, compassionate novel that challenges our definitions of family, of intelligence, and of love. Equal parts cerebral and heartbreaking, The Unseen World is utterly compelling, and its heroine Ada Sibelius is irresistible in all her thorny vulnerability. Liz Moore has given us a masterful version of our own modern condition and I cannot wait to place this book in the hands of my most ardent reader friends."
ROBIN BLACK, author of LIFE DRAWING
"Beautiful, redemptive, and utterly devastating. The kind of world I want to live in would be penned by Liz Moore."
ALEX GILVARRY, author of FROM THE MEMOIRS OF A NON-ENEMY COMBATANT
"In sparse, urgent prose, Liz Moore delivers a staggeringly beautiful meditation on love, legacy, and emotional necessities that make life worth living. That lump in your throat? You won't know quite how it got there--nor believe how long it will stick around once the final page is turned."
TÉA OBREHT, author of THE TIGER'S WIFE