Among Heath’s great strengths as a novelist is her ability to interweave science, science fiction, whimsy, and the complexity of human relationships, with all their messy history and glorious failings, into a cohesive and moving narrative. This latest Fleur story takes us even deeper, into an exploration of communication with animal and plant life on Earth, and a wildly imaginative rendering of Fleur’s “home away from home,” where Einstein, Pauli and other brilliant scientists morph into fantastic shapes and colors as they ponder Fleur’s dilemma, and ultimately, how to save the world. THE MYSTERIOUS COMPOSITION OF TEARS is a feast for the heart and mind, and a call to action.