The Theory of (Not Quite) Everything

With the offbeat charm of The Rosie Project and the generous warmth of The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, this is a wry, moving debut novel about a pair of unforgettable siblings and a love triangle of sorts—one with math as its beating heart

Mimi Brotherton, younger sister of Art, believes in truth. And most of the time, she believes in telling it. Art, a mathematical genius, believes in facts. Bound together by their parents’ tragic deaths, the siblings share their family home and have a strong, if unequal, relationship. Art has everything he needs (math and a devoted sister). Now, Mimi is ready for a life of her own.

This might include love. At first, Art is cautiously enthusiastic, keen to demonstrate that love, like everything, is subject to rules. But when Mimi meets Frank, who is affable enough, but is another mathematician, Art bristles. He is on the cusp of solving a notoriously intractable equation, and success promises fame and fortune. But he fears that Frank may be after his sister for the wrong reasons. When both men are suddenly involved in a serious accident, Mimi is caught between the two. Can she trust her heart to guide her to the truth?

In this delightful, bittersweet novel, Kara Gnodde explores how the answers to life’s questions—the bonds of family and the calculations of the heart—follow a logic of their own.