About
A New York Times Notable Book
A Booklist Editors' Choice
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
What would it really mean to live forever?
Rachel is a woman with a problem: she can't die. Her recent troubles-widowhood, a failing business, an unemployed middle-aged son-are only the latest in a litany spanning dozens of countries, scores of marriages, and hundreds of children. In the 2,000 years since she made a spiritual bargain to save the life of her first son back in Roman-occupied Jerusalem, she's tried everything to free herself, and only one other person in the world understands: a man she once loved passionately, who has been stalking her through the centuries, convinced they belong together forever.
But as the twenty-first century begins and her children and grandchildren-consumed with immortality in their own ways, from the frontiers of digital currency to genetic engineering-develop new technologies that could change her fate and theirs, Rachel knows she must find a way out.
Gripping, hilarious, and profoundly moving, Eternal Life celebrates the bonds between generations, the power of faith, the purpose of death, and the reasons for being alive.
A Booklist Editors' Choice
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
What would it really mean to live forever?
Rachel is a woman with a problem: she can't die. Her recent troubles-widowhood, a failing business, an unemployed middle-aged son-are only the latest in a litany spanning dozens of countries, scores of marriages, and hundreds of children. In the 2,000 years since she made a spiritual bargain to save the life of her first son back in Roman-occupied Jerusalem, she's tried everything to free herself, and only one other person in the world understands: a man she once loved passionately, who has been stalking her through the centuries, convinced they belong together forever.
But as the twenty-first century begins and her children and grandchildren-consumed with immortality in their own ways, from the frontiers of digital currency to genetic engineering-develop new technologies that could change her fate and theirs, Rachel knows she must find a way out.
Gripping, hilarious, and profoundly moving, Eternal Life celebrates the bonds between generations, the power of faith, the purpose of death, and the reasons for being alive.