The Absolutes

Told through fragments of memory rather than a linear narrative, The Absolutes follows a father reflecting on his life after two devastating losses: his wife's suicide, and his daughter's disappearance into a controlling cult. The fractured structure mirrors his own disoriented sense of identity, moving between past and present as he tries to understand what happened and to hold on to his love for a daughter who has become unreachable.

Kate Potter drew on her own family's history for the novel — her father's half-brother disappeared in the 1970s, feared to have joined a cult — and the personal weight of that experience shapes the book's quiet, unflinching portrayal of grief, regret, and a parent's helpless devotion.