The Impossible Us

Lotz (Missing Person) impresses with this witty and gentle sci-fi tale of love across the multiverse. In 2019, 45-year-old freelance editor Nick Belcher’s nasty email to a nonpaying client accidentally ends up in 39-year-old wedding dress upcycler Bee Davies’s inbox, and their ensuing correspondence sparks immediate attraction. When Nick’s moribund marriage ends suddenly, he and Bee decide to meet in person—but when they can’t find each other at their meeting place, they realize they live in slightly different universes. Nick’s world has no Tinder and Donald Trump is not president but rather convicted of ecocide, among other changes. As they can’t be together, they hatch a plan for the next best thing: each finding the version of the other in their own world. Bee manages to connect with Nick’s doppelgänger, a successful author, but the Bee in Nick’s world is already married to a millionaire. Nick holds out hope when he senses not all is well in her marriage—before a dangerous possibility of bridging the glitch between worlds upends everything. Lotz perfectly balances the heavy with the light, and creates a feeling of genuine connection between her protagonists. The eccentric side characters and strong humor meshes nicely with the earnest, tender romance. The result is simply delightful. Agent: Oliver Munson, A.M. Heath Literary. (Mar.)