Shoot the Moon

Arsén’s innovative debut novel combines mathematical principles with time travel as it traces one woman’s path from scientist’s daughter to NASA programmer. Annie Fisk, drawn to numbers since childhood, follows in the footsteps of her father—a physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, N.Mex. and died when she was only 15—and majors in physics and astronomy in college. She lands a job in the secretarial pool at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston in 1967 and, after correcting some errors made by Norm Hale, a navigator working on the Apollo, is promoted to a programmer. A romantic relationship with Norm develops, and one day, when Annie’s searching for lost paperwork, she stumbles onto a wormhole into another dimension that seems strangely connected to her own past. Tragedy ensues when Norm volunteers to be a human subject to enter the wormhole, despite Annie’s objections. Afterward, Annie moves on from NASA, reuniting with Evelyn, her college girlfriend and a budding artist, but continues her research into wormholes—a legacy she hopes to pass on to her daughter, Diana. Arsén expertly navigates the back-and-forth of the story’s time-travel events, threading them into the highlights of women’s scientific achievements. Readers who relish strong female leads will be riveted. Agent: Chris Bucci, Aevitas Creative Management. (Oct.)