What’s Up With the Epigraph?

Epigraphs are like little appetizers to the great entrée of a story. They illuminate important aspects of the story, and they get us headed in the right direction.

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious."
– Albert Einstein, The World as I See It (1931)

Stead pulls the novel's epigraph from a 1931 essay by all-around genius dude Albert Einstein called "The World as I See It." The essay is not so much on time or space or any of that science-type stuff, but rather about humanity and how to create a just society. For more on the connection between "The World as I Know It" and When You Reach Me, see our "Why Should I Care?" section.