Image by Tabitha Guy via Penguin Random House

South African author Lauren Beukes has a sci-fi thriller on the way. The novel, titled Bridge, is Beukes’ eighth book and will be published on August 8, 2023 by Mulholland Books.

In the novel, a woman named Bridge finds “the dreamworm,” a device that opens doors to other worlds and versions of the self. Following her mother’s death, Bridge begins to explore the wonders of the many worlds she encounters while confronting the dangers lurking in the multiverse. The book captures Bridge’s experience as she zips through lives and worlds, from Portland to Haiti, Argentina to North Carolina. With a character who has the ability to traverse a thousand possible lives, we are dealing with a book that questions reality at its core while serving a ton of suspense and drama.

Beukes is a journalist-turned-fiction writer, comic writer, and screen writer. She has authored award-winning and bestselling books. Some of her well-known novels include The Shining Girls, Broken Monsters, and Zoo City, which won her the Author C. Clark award. In addition to books, she has written comics and many short stories.

Read the full synopsis of Bridge below:

Bridget Kittinger has always been paralyzed by choices. It has a lot to do with growing up in the long shadow of her mother, Jo, a troubled neuroscientist. Jo’s obsession with one mythical object, the “dreamworm”—which she believed enabled travel to other worlds—led to their estrangement.

Now, suddenly, Jo is dead. And in packing up her home, Bridge finds a strange device buried deep in Jo’s freezer: the dreamworm. Against all odds, it actually can open the door—to all other realities, and to all other versions of herself, too. Could Bridge find who she should be in this world, by visiting the others? And could her Jo still be alive somewhere? But there’s a sinister cost to trading places, and others hunting the dreamworm who would kill to get their hands on it . . .

Across a thousand possible lives, from Portland to Haiti, from Argentina to the alligator-infested riverways of North Carolina, Bridge takes readers on a highly original thrill ride, pushing the boundaries of what we know about mothers and daughters, hunters and seekers, and who we each choose to be.

Congrats to Beukes on her upcoming novel!