Transcendent Kingdom is the new novel by Yaa Gyasi, author of Homegoing. Gifty, a PhD student at Stanford, is a brilliant scientist who mostly keeps to herself in her lab, trying to understand the parts of the brain that cause addiction, reward seeking and depression, among other things.

Gifty is part of an immigrant family from Ghana, whose Father returned there when she was little, leaving her mother to raise her and her older brother, a gifted athlete who becomes addicted to OxyContin after an injury. Her Mother, who has struggled with depression throughout her life, is now living with Gifty as she tries through both science and faith to make sense of the tragedies that have befallen her family.

This is such a powerful and beautifully written book, it blew me away. Touching on love, faith, family, culture, science, healing, redemption, mental illness, understanding our place in the world, to name just a few, this book soars. Highly recommended.