The End Of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas

 

Ariel Manto is a graduate student working on her doctoral thesis.  She has landed at this university because her doctoral supervisor is the only other person she has heard of that knows who Thomas Lumas is.  Ariel is focusing on nineteenth century scientists and Lumas was in that category.  He wrote a book called The End Of Mr. Y that is impossible to find; there are rumors that there might be one copy in a German library but it is unsubstantiated.  

Then Ariel's supervisor disappears.  While she is at loose ends, she visits a bookstore she hasn't seen before and finds a copy of The End of Mr. Y.  Elated and unable to believe her luck, she purchases it with her next month's rent and hurries back to her apartment.

There she finds that Lumas had found a recipe that lets someone go to another sphere of existence.  Ariel debates whether she should but ends up making up the recipe and off she goes.  She sees others there.  Some are helpful but some want to kill her if that's what it takes to get the book and its recipe.  She falls in love with Adam, a former priest and together they try to figure out what is going on.

Scarlett Thomas is known as a postmodern author.  This novel was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and I bought my copy over a decade ago.  I typically stay away from metaphysical and postmodern fiction but I was drawn into this one.  Ariel is a woman who is determined to find the truth no matter what it costs her and she refuses to delegate her authority to others.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.