In 1991 Emily Piper is a graduate student finishing her dissertation on metaphysics, when her home and work are destroyed in the Berkeley-Oakland fires.With her life's work in cinders, she retreats in shock to the small coastal town of Mendocino.It is here that Emily becomes hesitantly involved in the early days of Net chat rooms.Soon, Emily, dubbed Pi, wanders into the quixotic thoughts of JD, a mysterious figure living on America's opposite coast.What develops is a tentative, stimulating, and perilous relationship.Who is JD?And furthermore, who, now, is Pi?Highly original, gripping, and refreshingly thought provoking, this is the multi-layered story of two lost souls whose charged connection gives new meaning to the "mind/body problem."AUTHORBIO: Sylvia Brownrigg is the author of a forthcoming collection of stories, TEN WOMEN WHO SHOOK THE WORLD (FSG), and received her degree in philosophy from Yale University.She was born in California and currently resides in London.THE METAPHYSICAL TOUCH is her first novel.