Helpmeet

It's 1900, and Louise Wilk is taking her dying husband home to Buffalo where he grew up. Dr. Edward Wilk is wasting away from an aggressive and debilitating malady. But it's becoming clearer that his condition isn't exactly a disease, but a phase of existence that seeks to transform and ultimately possess him.

Naben Ruthnum is the author of Curry: Eating, Reading, and Race and A Hero of Our Time. He also writes thrillers as Nathan Ripley. His short fiction has won the Journey Prize and a National Magazine Award.