A novelist attempts to write a book about Mary Shelley, author of FRANKENSTEIN, a mother and artist whose harrowing pregnancies reveal the cost of human reproduction. Soon, however, the novelist’s own painful experiences of pregnancy and childbirth, as well as her increasing awareness of larger threats from climate change to the pandemic, force her to give up on the book and turn instead to writing a contemporary FRANKENSTEIN, based on the story of an old friend who mysteriously reappears in her life.

J. Robert Oppenheimer was a brilliant scientist, a champion of liberal causes, and a complex and often contradictory character. He loyally protected his Communist friends, only to later betray them under questioning. He repeatedly lied about love affairs. And he defended the use of the atomic bomb he helped create, before ultimately lobbying against nuclear proliferation. Through narratives that cross time and space, a set of characters bears witness to the life of Oppenheimer. As these men and women fall into the orbit of a brilliant but mercurial mind at work, all consider his complicated legacy while also uncovering deep and often unsettling truths about their own lives.

Each of the characters in SPEAK is attempting to communicate across gaps --- to estranged spouses, lost friends, future readers, or a computer program that may or may not understand them. Louisa Hall explores how the chasm between computer and human --- shrinking rapidly with today’s technological advances --- echoes the gaps that exist between ordinary people. Though each speaks from a distinct place and moment in time, all five characters share the need to express themselves while simultaneously wondering if they will ever be heard or understood.