The Perishing

Lou wakes up in an alley in 1930s Los Angeles with no memory of who she is or how she got there. Taken in by a foster family, she builds a life through school and journalism while trying to understand the strange flashes, dreams, and recurring faces that hint her past may be larger than one lifetime.

As Lou works as a reporter and investigates the city around her, she encounters historical events, social tensions, and people whose lives seem connected to hers across time. A future-set perspective and other time periods complicate her search, suggesting that her identity is tied to immortality, repeated lives, and forces she does not yet understand.

The story gradually moves toward the question of what Lou is, why she keeps appearing in different eras, and what she must do before time runs out. Along the way, the book weaves together personal mystery, historical detail, and a larger struggle over race, memory, and survival.