In the final seconds before the Pointe Reason nuclear reactor explodes around them in October 1971, Dr. Cecilia Ribold makes a conscious choice: to defy death itself. She, her true love Mitch, and her best friend and fellow physicist Dawn-her platonic soulmate-have a theory about harnessing the laws of physics to direct their own reincarnations. Energy cannot be destroyed, so they devise a method to ensure their bond won't be either. They vow to find each other across lifetimes. Now, half a century later, they are each fully entrenched in their subsequent lives. Ceclia, now known as Vienna, finds Mitch, now Marcello, in a fateful encounter. Hoping to express her agonizing love for him, while also sending a warning to a culprit she partly blames for the Pointe Reason disaster, she publishes a novel containing details no one could possibly know about the meltdown-unless they'd been there. The novel attracts her old friend Dawn, now Darcey, but also the dangerous attention of the perpetrators of the original disaster and the government who sees directed reincarnation as a valuable weapon. Their lives converge once more in an international chase across continents to defend their love, so deep and unbreakable, it's subatomic. "Shannon Kirk's Subatomic Love is a reading experience I will never forget. Part sci-fi adventure, part epic love story, the novel is sweeping, heartbreaking, and above all, special. Humanity may be governed by science but, according to Kirk, ultimately we are ruled by love." -Emily Carpenter, bestselling author of Gothictown and Burying the Honeysuckle Girls "This book is a nuclear blast of love. Love for science, love for humanity, love for love. Every Shannon Kirk story is incandescently unique, and Subatomic Love is the perfect fusion of poetry and physics into a beautiful tale of connections that stretch past space and time. A triumph of creativity with a whodunit mystery at its core." -Victoria Helen Stone, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Jane Doe "The elements racing toward fusion in this genre collider will only seem incompatible to those who haven't yet enjoyed a particle-physics striptease. With meditative recollections sandwiched between intrigue and action, Kirk somehow manages to ramp up the threat of an explosion that happened a generation ago. A compelling allegory for the complexity, volatility, and urgency of desire, Subatomic Love is unlike any other novel. Buckle up and prepare to be exposed to the desperate radiance of the most reactive element, the human heart." -Eli Brown, author of Cinnamon and Gunpowder "It's official! Shannon Kirk is the mother of inventiveness when it comes to storytelling. She explodes onto the literary scene with another brilliant book, Subatomic Love . Kirk showers readers with a complex yet highly readable story that fuses intrigue, sensuality, and intelligence with a liberal dash of her incisive humor. Science, mystery, passion, revenge, and devotion radiate throughout Subatomic Love , yielding a familiar tale-separated but eternal lovers- that's also utterly original and transcendent. Prepare to be blown away." -Ana K. Wrenn, author of The Wilding of Em's Path and Strange Attractor Shannon Kirk is the multiple-award-winning, international bestselling author of Method 15/33, which was optioned for film, sold in over twenty languages, and garnered critical acclaim, including three starred reviews and the coveted placement on School Library Journal's 2017 "Best Adult Books for Teens." Her other books include Viebury Grove, Gretchen, In the Vines, the award-winning The Extraordinary Journey of Vivienne Marshall, which was given the Literary Classics Seal of Approval, and Tenkill, a legal thriller that Readers Digest compared to "early John Grisham." In addition to writing, Shannon is the global head of E-Discovery at one of the top AmLaw 100 Firms.