Theoretical Physics And Down-To-Earth Loneliness In 'Lost And Wanted'

Nell Freudenberger excels at one of fiction's singular strengths — imaginative empathy without borders. Her heralded 2003 debut story collection, Lucky Girls, and her first two novels explored the rub between American and Asian culture. In The Newlyweds (2012) she proved herself to be an adept cultural mime, channeling a Bangladeshi bride's uncomfortable adaptation to life in America.

With her third novel, Freudenberger takes another impressive plunge into a different sort of foreign culture: theoretical physics. In doing so, she joins a select group