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Monica Byrne

Biography

Monica Byrne

Monica Byrne grew up in Annville, Pennsylvania, as the youngest child of two theologians. She studied biochemistry at Wellesley, NASA, and MIT before pivoting to fiction and theater. Byrne is the author of the novels THE GIRL IN THE ROAD (winner of the 2014 Otherwise Award) and THE ACTUAL STAR, as well as the plays "Nightwork," "What Every Girl Should Know," "Tarantino’s Yellow Speedo" and "Ohio!", which have been performed around the world. She also presented the first science-fictional TED Talk in Vancouver. She is based in Durham, North Carolina, and loves a good thunderstorm.

Monica Byrne

Books by Monica Byrne

by Monica Byrne - Fiction, Science Fiction

THE ACTUAL STAR takes readers on a journey over two millennia and six continents. Braided together are the stories of a pair of teenage twins who ascend the throne of a Maya kingdom; a young American woman on a trip of self-discovery in Belize; and two dangerous charismatics vying for the leadership of a new religion and racing toward a confrontation that will determine the fate of the few humans left on Earth after massive climate change. In each era, a reincarnated trinity of souls navigates the entanglements of tradition and progress, sister and stranger, and love and hate --- until all of their age-old questions about the nature of existence converge deep underground, where only in complete darkness can they truly see.

by Monica Byrne - Fiction

When Meena finds snakebites on her chest, her worst fears are realized: someone is after her. So she flees India and sets off for Ethiopia, the place of her birth. Meanwhile, Mariama, a young girl in Africa, is forced to flee her home. She joins up with a caravan of misfits traveling across the Sahara. As one heads east and the other west, Meena and Mariama’s fates are linked in ways that are mysterious and shocking to the core.