by Ken Grimwood
Elise walks through another decade watching everyone she loves grow old and die while she remains frozen at the same age. For three hundred years, since her life began at Versailles during the reign of Louis XIV, a medical miracle has kept her eternally young. She moves from place to place when people start asking questions about her appearance. She stays silent about her past, knowing that one wrong word about her three centuries of memories could upend everything. Now Elise faces an impossible choice. She wants to share her secret with the man she loves, but she cannot imagine the dangers this revelation might unleash for both of them and the entire world. Science has finally advanced enough that someone might understand her condition and her desperation. Elise would give anything for just one wrinkle, one gray hair, one sign that she could age and die like everyone else.
Genres: science-fiction, romance, historical-fiction, fantasy
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, secret-identity
Setting: Versailles, Louis XIV
Period: 300 Years
Mass Market Paperback · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: medical-trauma