Debut novelist Rebekah Bergman's The Museum of Human History is a breathtaking and poignant story about pain, obsession, and the passage of time. When eight-year-old Maeve falls into a mysterious comatose state in which she never appears to age, the people around her seek answers. Her father, an entomologist named Lionel, allows a cult-like following to grow in her wake, all the while wondering what his deceased wife would have done. Kevin, a museum owner with a staggering family legacy, wants Maeve as his latest exhibit. And Luke, the youngest man to receive a devastating new treatment to prevent aging, hopes to retrieve his dearest memories. But Maeve's twin sister is determined that her sister finally find peace.
Bergman's lyrical prose and keen character insight infuse the novel with near-constant moments of emotional enlightenment. The short, fragmented narrative structure masterfully intertwines not only the lives of its haunting characters but also a collection of themes that, despite their abstract weight, all feel emotionally grounded in Bergman's hypnotic reality. The intimate snapshots Bergman captures--an ill-fated trip to a Halloween store for a cow costume, a heartrending road trip after a fatal diagnosis, a chance encounter between two grieving women in a graveyard--are wistfully beautiful and painfully tender. As atmospheric and inventive as the speculative elements of The Museum of Human History are, it is Bergman's endlessly gentle handling of raw emotion that will linger with readers like a bruise. --Alice Martin, freelance writer and editor