In an interview at the back of the book, author Madeleine Henry reveals that her new novel, THE LOVE PROOF --- as well as the ones that will follow it --- offers a sort of thematic continuation of issues brought up in her debut, BREATHE IN, CASH OUT. Each entry stands entirely on its own, but each serves to answer a question raised in that particular novel: “What’s missing from…life?” The answer, at least in Henry’s latest effort, is connection.

Henry, who is a Yale alum herself, sets the book largely on that university's campus. We arrive there along with the main characters, Sophie and Jake, during the first week of their freshman year. Sophie’s reputation precedes her to the Ivy League; she’s already been profiled as “The Next Einstein” in the New York Times after earning a perfect score in the International Mathematical Olympiad a record four straight times. In an unusual move for a first-year student, she’s been invited to join a renowned physics professor for an individual tutorial, an honor normally reserved only for upperclassmen.

"THE LOVE PROOF is sure to inspire vigorous discussion of the choices made by several characters, and Sophie and Jake’s love story will resonate with readers whether or not they grasp all of Sophie’s hypotheses."

Sophie’s new friend, Jake, learns all of this from her Wikipedia page after he meets her in a lecture on the first day of classes. Unlike Sophie, Jake is not a prodigy, though he is undeniably driven and gifted in his own way. After a childhood characterized by financial insecurity, Jake is determined to make it big in the world of investments, to become so wealthy that neither he nor his mother will ever have to worry about money again.

On paper, these two seem like an odd couple, but from the very first time they meet up to study, they just click. They are perfectly comfortable with one another and are soon inseparable, essentially moving in together by the end of freshman year. By that time, however, both Jake and her professors have observed a change in Sophie. She’s no longer the single-minded math and physics phenom she once was. Instead of pursuing a research fellowship or independent study during that summer, Sophie moves to New York with Jake and works a retail job while he pursues an internship at one of the country’s top hedge funds.

As time passes, Sophie’s ambitions continue to decline even as Jake’s skyrocket. Although she is clearly in love with him and insists she is content, everyone else (including, eventually, Jake himself) grows concerned that she is squandering her once-brilliant future --- and, perhaps, groundbreaking scientific discoveries --- for the sake of love.

Without giving away too much, suffice it to say that THE LOVE PROOF covers more than three decades of its characters’ lives, and considers themes of first love, ambition, heredity and, yes, connection. There’s also more than a little physics, including an ongoing discussion of the nature of time and especially the area of physics known as “block theory,” which Henry uses to underscore her themes of connection across time and space.

THE LOVE PROOF is sure to inspire vigorous discussion of the choices made by several characters, and Sophie and Jake’s love story will resonate with readers whether or not they grasp all of Sophie’s hypotheses. Madeleine Henry has embarked on an unusual project with her planned group of novels exploring a common question, and readers will be eager to see how she tackles the idea of “self-compassion” in her next book.