The Breakthrough

The wife of a French M.I.T. scientist felled by a stroke must fight alone to save her husband's reputation when rumors begin to circulate about his work. She gave up on her dreams decades earlier while he chased a breakthrough that would make their sacrifices worthwhile and vindicate them for moving far away from relatives - but now that the breakthrough has happened at last, it might be taken from them. She crosses paths with a journalist trying to use her husband to become famous, a nurse more than willing to bend the rules, a graduate student bearing a grudge... and her own son, who has had a serious falling-out with his parents. While the task of protecting her husband's good name is becoming more formidable by the day, could her estranged son provide the help she needs?

The theme of the novel is the mesmerizing quest for new knowledge that ultimately may not justify the personal sacrifices researchers make to advance science. More broadly, it is about the personal costs that come with trying to follow one's dreams away from family.