PBS Books, in collaboration with South Florida PBS, presents TJ Klune, the bestselling author of “The House in the Cerulean Sea,” “Into This River I Drown” and “Under the Whispering Door.”
In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots—fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe.
The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled “HAP,” he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio–a past spent hunting humans.
When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.
Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?
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About TJ Klune
TJ Klune is the bestselling author of “The House in the Cerulean Sea,” “Into This River I Drown” and “Under the Whispering Door.” He is also the author of multiple fantasy series, including Green Creek and Tales from Verania, as well as the young adult series The Extraordinaries. Klune has won a Lambda Literary Award and an Alex Award, and has been nominated for a Locus Award. Being queer himself, Klune believes it’s important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive queer representation in stories. His latest novel, “In the Lives of Puppets,” will be featured in the 2023 National Book Festival.
