Gain

Have you ever wondered about the hidden costs of the products you use every day? This novel unearths the two-hundred-year story of a chemical company, revealing how its pursuit of progress and profit left a toxic legacy for a small American town. You’ll follow the parallel stories of the company's rise and a woman's battle with ovarian cancer. Discover the complex, often unsettling connection between corporate ambition and individual human lives, forcing you to question the true price of modern convenience and the American Dream itself.

Richard Powers is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and MacArthur Fellow whose fiction explores the profound connections between science, technology, and the human condition. A former computer programmer with a background in physics, Powers brings a unique scientific rigor and deep empathy to his storytelling. This dual perspective allowed him to masterfully chronicle the intertwined histories of a multinational chemical corporation and the family it impacts in his National Book Award finalist, Gain, revealing the hidden costs of progress and the complex beauty of modern life.