Richard Powers’s novel was longlisted for a couple of big literary prizes, and that may be why I decided to give it a try. I don’t read much contemporary fiction, but I have followed Powers’s writing career ever since I read his 1985 Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance. His plots always sound intriguing, this one so much so that the novel ended up in my Top Ten for 2014.

The story centers on Peter Els, a music composer who later in life is trying to find a way to fuse his passions for music and for science. This unlikely combination brings Homeland Security knocking on his door. Peter flees to avoid arrest, and his journey takes him back into his own past as he tries to reconnect with his daughter.

I loved this book for the beauty of Powers’s prose.