The Perpetual Motion Machine

A memoir exploring a young woman’s troubled childhood, her bond with her older brother, and the toll of drugs and alcohol on their lives.

Inspired by a brother’s high school science project—a perpetual motion machine that could save the world—The Perpetual Motion Machine is a memoir in essays that attempts to save a sibling by depicting the visceral pain that accompanies longing for some past impossibility. The collection has been a science project in its study of memory, in the calculation and plotting of the moments that make up a childhood. The preparation has been “in the field” in that it is built upon the gathering of lived experience; the evidence is photo albums, family interviews, and anecdotes from friends. The project has been one giant experiment—to see if they can all make it out alive.

“Full of hard-won wisdom, beautifully written and deeply moving . . . an exquisite chronicle of family and trauma and hope and longing, and announces Brittany Ackerman as an exciting new voice in letters.” —Alan Heathcock, author of VOLT and 40

“[An] instantly engaging and wildly engrossing memoir. . . . Her prose is accessible and affecting, and her family story is exquisite in its luminous detail and intimacy, full of heartbreak and humor.” ―Davy Rothbart, author of My Heart is an Idiot, creator of FOUND Magazine, and contributor to This American Life

“Told in simple, spare language, Ackerman’s story is powerful not only for the story it tells, but also for the eloquent silences and chronological ruptures that symbolize the painfully fractured nature of her life and that of her brother. A brief but poignant memoir.” —Kirkus Reviews