Speak

<p>A thoughtful poignant novel that explores the creation of Artificial Intelligence--illuminating the very human need for communication connection and understanding.</p><p>In a narrative that spans geography and time from the Atlantic Ocean in the seventeenth century to a correctional institute in Texas in the near future and told from the perspectives of five very different characters <em>Speak</em> considers what it means to be human and what it means to be less than fully alive.</p><p>A young Puritan woman travels to the New World with her unwanted new husband. Alan Turing the renowned mathematician and code breaker writes letters to his best friend's mother. A Jewish refugee and professor of computer science struggles to reconnect with his increasingly detached wife. An isolated and traumatized young girl exchanges messages with an intelligent software program. A former Silicon Valley Wunderkind is imprisoned for creating illegal lifelike dolls.</p><p>Each of these characters is attempting to communicate across gaps--to estranged spouses lost friends future readers or a computer program that may or may not understand them. In dazzling and electrifying prose Louisa Hall explores how the chasm between computer and human--shrinking rapidly with today's technological advances--echoes the gaps that exist between ordinary people. Though each speaks from a distinct place and moment in time all five characters share the need to express themselves while simultaneously wondering if they will ever be heard or understood.</p>