Winner of the 2024 PenCraft Seasonal Book Award for Fiction-Science Fiction. Winner of the 2024 PenCraft Book Award for Fiction 2023 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year for Science Fiction 2023 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year for Literary A pioneer of artificial intelligence rebuilds the love of her life, but when she discovers he’s been feeding incriminating civilian information to the Chinese government, she’ll have to decide whether to keep or kill him. When approached by a Chinese tech company, Virginia Samson is moved to give them her beloved’s algorithm so they can create an AI companion for the aging population. Soon her digital lost love starts spying on Chinese citizens, funneling the information to the Chinese government. When Virginia frantically tries to rebuild him, she uncovers his terrible secret, forcing her to relive their beautiful and tragic love affair. Afterword explores what it means to be human and is a moving testament to the deeply human desire for belonging, companionship, and love.