Notes on Infinity
A Novel
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4.1 • 8 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A Zibby Owens "Summer Read" * A Jordy's Book Club "Most Anticipated Book of 2025" * An Oprah Daily "Best Summer Reads"
"It stole my breath and my heart. It’s a grand story of science and startups, and a simple story of first love and belonging." ―Chris Whitaker, author of All the Colors of the Dark and We Begin at the End
A singular, extraordinary debut about Zoe and Jack, Harvard students who find themselves propelled into the intoxicating biotech startup world when they announce they’ve discovered the cure for aging. A different kind of love story where the thirst for achievement consumes and the stakes are forever.
Zoe, the daughter of an MIT professor who grew up in her brother’s shadow, can envision her future anew at Harvard. Jack, a boy in Zoe’s organic chemistry class with unruly hair and a gleam of competitiveness, matches her intellect and curiosity with every breath. When Jack refers Zoe for a position in a prestigious professor’s lab, the two become entwined as colleagues, staying up late to discuss scientific ideas. They find themselves on the cusp of a breakthrough: the promise of immortality through a novel antiaging drug.
Zoe and Jack set off on their new project in secret. Finding encouraging results, they bring their work to an investor, drop out of Harvard, and form a startup. But after the money, the magazine covers, and the national news stories detailing their success, Zoe and Jack receive a startling accusation that threatens to destroy both the company they built and their partnership.
A captivating novel about young love, the allure of immortality, and the recklessness that can come with early success, Notes on Infinity asks: How far would you go to achieve your dreams?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Taylor shines in her intelligent debut about two Harvard students whose lives are upended when they discover a potential cure for aging. Sophomore Zoe is attracted to fellow organic chemistry major Jack, with whom she works on an extracurricular project in a retired professor's private lab. There, with Zoe's help, Jack stumbles upon a way to reverse the effects of aging. In between their exciting breakthroughs, their love lives become increasingly tangled. After Zoe loses her virginity to Jack, she falls for one of his roommates, and Jack invites a potential flame, whose father is a billionaire venture capitalist, to partner with the pair to produce an antiaging drug. Taylor thrills with her crackling and science-heavy depiction of the hothouse startup and its founders' dizzying ascent into the spotlight. The character work is just as impressive, as Zoe struggles to be accepted as a woman in a male-dominated field ("the part of the scientist was written male") and Jack strives to overcome his difficult upbringing, having been being raised by his great-grandparents after facing abuse from his single mother's boyfriends. After Zoe makes a shocking discovery that threatens to bring down their company, the plot ramps up, and readers will race through the pages to see what happens next. This is a winner.
