When life is no longer short, what will we long for?
In the near-future, those who can afford it will be genetically engineered to age slower and live longer, to have many lives within one life.
Now the privileged and galvanic Albertine is at yet another crossroads in her seemingly endless time on Earth, having met one more person with whom she has fallen passionately and heedlessly in love.
Albertine's friend is her medician, "half-doctor, half-magician," who administers her longevity treatments and narrates the story. Albertine will beg him to stop the pain of loving so many. Meanwhile, the government decides to take drastic measures to pare the vast amounts of rich people who keep existing, gobbling resources.
Albertine is a story about how technology might alter how we live and die, have sex, kill, earn, achieve, parent, and grow up. It's also a timeless novella about the transitions all lovers make and—if they're lucky—survive.
