The Museum of Human History: A Novel

Complex, philosophically searching, & gorgeously rendered, Rebekah Bergman’s The Museum of Human History is a sharp & startling debut about a young girl frozen in time in a world obsessed with youth & self-preservation.

After nearly drowning, eight-year-old Maeve Wilhelm falls into a strange comatose state. As years pass, it becomes clear that Maeve is not physically aging. A wide cast of characters finds themselves pulled toward Maeve, each believing that her mysterious “sleep” holds the answers to their life’s most pressing questions: Kevin Marks, a museum owner obsessed with preservation; Monique Gray, a refugee & performance artist; Lionel Wilhelm, an entomologist who dreamed of being an astrophysicist; & Evangeline Wilhelm, Maeve’s identical twin. As Maeve remains asleep, the characters grapple with a mysterious new technology & medical advances that promise to ease anxiety & end pain, but instead cause devastating side effects.

Weaving together speculative elements & classic fables, & exploring urgent issues from the opioid epidemic to the hazards of biotech to the obsession with self-improvement & remaining forever young, Rebekah Bergman’s The Museum of Human History is a brilliant & fascinating novel about how time shapes us, asking what―if anything―we would be without it.