Time Travel for Love and Profit

November 30, 2020
After her friend Vera ghosts her, “aggressively weird” Nephele Weather, 14, begins to obsess over why—whether it’s her math obsession or her hirsute Greek heritage—and how to fix it. That’s how mathematics (“my one superpower”) comes into play. Armed with her knowledge of all things numerical, a strange book found at her parents’ bookstore, and her science teacher’s assistance, she devises a time travel app named Dirk Angus to change the past. Things, of course, go awry: while Nephele remains the same age, others mature a year every time she goes back, and by her 10th journey, she is no closer to her goal—in fact, that goal has morphed into something new but no less terrifying. Lariviere’s (The Bad Kid) YA debut is a multifaceted mélange of math and hormones; Nephele’s introspective monologues are filled with elegantly descriptive detail, tending toward a rambling stream-of-consciousness that many readers will find winning. Ages 12–up. Agent: Susan Hawk, Upstart Crow Literary.