What book is on your bedside table?
The Speed of Light by Elizabeth Rosner (Ballentine Books, $19.95).

How did you come across the book?
The author was recommended to us at Hollyhock as an extraordinary presenter.

Page-turner or doorstop?
Definitely a page-turner!

Would you put it on your Desert Island list?
Absolutely, it is one of those books I think about many times after having read it.

How would you describe the book in one word?
Haunting

If you had to design a poster for the book, what would it look like?
All glowy and yellow and orange. Maybe with an old wooden chair to express the history, and to suggest the untold story may be greater than the difficult truth.

What’s the main idea/theme of this book?
A haunting tale of timeless secrets about three unique people who overcome the tragedies of the past and reconnect with one another and the world around them.

List three new words you learned in the book.
Gegenschein (counter-glow; faint patch of light), deliquescent (becoming liquid on exposure to air), triple-point (the particular temperature and pressure at which the solid, liquid, and gaseous phases of a given substance are all at equilibrium with one another).

Who would you recommend the book to?

People who enjoy complexity and depth and an excellent quick read at the same time.

What’s the paragraph re-read factor, on a scale of one to ten?
nine-juicy! But if it means hard to understand then a two.

By Erica Gehrke, our Circus Trapeze Artist and Star Associate Editor.