Sequel to Fire in the Bones, Mark Harris’s Now You See Her—about nothing less than living with our dreams and the iconoclasm of reality—is an unmitigated joy to read. Once again he enchants readers with a poignant and charming coming-of-age yarn about the power of the stories we tell ourselves.

Hungry for permanent love and a hope that doesn’t disappoint, the precocious protagonist searches for signs while navigating early 1970s America, culling insights from sermons and songs, from comic books to classical movies. With a fertile mind and incredible imagination, he scans the cultural landscape for role models of masculinity and virtue: from Columbo to John Dean, from Wolfman Jack to Bob Newhart, reminding readers in the process of an earlier time Harris is so adept at resurrecting. Negotiating the deep mysteries of young love and the opposite sex, Luke’s riveting pilgrimage and fascinating psychological journey ultimately tells the tale of the beauty of reciprocity and the power of unconditional love. Growing up, like waking up, reminds us of the infinite value of what’s real and the courage it takes to risk vulnerability to experience it to the full.