The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley: A Novel

(Paperback)

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An inspired, sweeping, historical epic tracing the remarkable life story of a baby girl born on leap year day who grows one year older every four years. The Leap Year Gene imagines the fascinating life of Kit McKinley from WWI up to the present day, told through the voices of Kit and her family members, whose lives are forever altered by her secret.

World War I, Canada, 1915: Lillian McKinley learns that her husband has been killed in France. The devastating news has a curious impact on her unborn daughter, who gestates far longer than she should. By the time Kit McKinley is born, February 29, 1916, the timing of her birth raises questions. Kit proves to be a happy and intelligent little girl, but painfully slow to age: just one year for every four. She and her family must keep on the move to keep her secret intactfrom newshounds during the 1920s and 30s, from Nazi scientists in Europe, and from doctors in 1950s New York.Finally, when Kit reaches her teens and can pass for an adult, she must decide whether she wants to stay perpetually on the run. Ultimately, once the human genome is mapped and scientists start to research ways to suppress and amplify individual genetic traits, Kit will need to make some difficult choices about the strange quirk in her DNA that has made her who she is.

Perfect for fans of Kate Atkinson's Life After Life and Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, The Leap Year Gene is a fast-paced race through the past centurys burgeoning understanding of genetics, eugenics, and what constitutes normal, while exploring the tensions, love, and sense of duty that can bind or divide families.

Author Bio

Shelley Wood is a writer, journalist, and editor. Her work has appeared in the New Quarterly, Room, the Antigonish Review, Causeway Lit, and the Globe and Mail (UK). Born and raised in Vancouver, she has lived in Montreal, Cape Town, and the Middle East, and now has a home, a man, and a dog in British Columbia, Canada. Her 2019 novel, The Quintland Sisters, was a bestseller in Canada.