Late Light

Charlie Borneman is five years old when he first sees the universe. It’s 1966; he lives with his family of five in the quiet suburb of Lincolnwood, Illinois. One winter night, Charlie glimpses a cosmic connection that changes his life forever. What he sees is impossibly beautiful: distance means nothing; time means nothing; the difference between Charlie and other people vanishes.

Decades later, when Richard Borneman learns of Charlie’s death, he goes to his estranged brother’s house in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. As Richie faces the troubled past of his good-hearted, hapless younger sibling, he begins to confront his own life. At the tech company where Richie works, a crisis brews around the launch of an eerily lifelike AI that promises to upend the future. Meanwhile, among the keepsakes of Charlie’s beloved sister, tempestuous mother, and alcoholic father, Richie discovers evidence of Charlie’s recurring visions and their startling results.

The most transcendent and moving work from one of our greatest American novelists, Late Light explores timeless themes of grief, family, and childhood while examining the cutting-edge inventions of our technological age. As only a Richard Powers novel can, Late Light asks what makes us human and, in a world where machines know more about us than we know about ourselves, what makes a life worth living.