Synopsis:
Olesya was not born like other people but was found in the Siberian Forest by a couple unable to have children. Plagued by mysterious visions and dreams, she struggles to fit into a society both as a socially inept but brilliant child and as she becomes part of a research team to discover the nature of dark matter. The findings of this discovery never make it to the scientific community as the project leader goes missing and the physics lab blows up, destroyed by a powerful foe with seemingly noble intentions.
Seattle detectives question Olesya in connection with the explosion and the disappearance of her boss. She becomes a person of interest until she herself goes missing. From her kidnappers, she learns that her parents, knowing she lacked a belly button, suspected she was created by the Russian government as part of a scientific experiment, and emigrated to the USA to hide and protect her. She also learns she possesses powers related to dark matter and of the existence of a brother held captive since his discovery by the Russian government. Even though she suspects her kidnappers’ interest in her and their motivations aren’t so noble, she joins them in rescuing her brother. Catastrophic world events following the successful rescue force her to continue working with her foes to save the world from destruction.
While working to save the world, Olesya experiences a moral dilemma and becomes someone she never thought she’d be—a mother. Olesya learns of mysterious chambers scattered around the world, and her visions return to haunt her, until she opens the chambers and learns their secrets, wishing she hadn’t. Now she faces the heart-wrenching realization that she must travel into a dark dimension to save the world from self-destruction. Worse yet, her daughter, Emery, is the key to humanity’s salvation and must follow her mother once she becomes an adult because she is the only being who can travel where no one else can to restore balance to the universe and return with an extraordinary gift for humanity. But powerful entities have reasons to keep the gift away from humanity and will do anything to stop her.
Favorite Lines:
“Being different is not something you should be ashamed of. It’s something you should be proud of.”
“For years now, her hope had lain buried deep inside, waiting for the right moment to awaken.”
My Opinion:
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.
Eva Barber writes Unborn with an eerie tenderness that makes the strange feel familiar, the impossible feel almost believable. It’s a novel that mixes the beauty of myth with the sharp edges of science, and it does so without ever losing sight of its humanity.
The story begins in a Russian forest, where a baby is found alone and impossibly alive. Her name is Olesya. She’s perfect — except she doesn’t have a belly button. That single detail feels small at first, but Barber builds the entire story around it. What does it mean to be created instead of born? To belong to a family, but not to the natural order that defines one? Those questions stay at the heart of Unborn, even as the story stretches across centuries, countries, and dimensions.
What I loved most is how the book keeps its balance — it’s dark without being bleak, intelligent without ever becoming cold. The writing feels cinematic, full of quiet tension and visual detail: candlelight against snow, the hum of a laboratory, a mother’s hand trembling as she holds something she can’t quite understand. And yet, under all of that, the story is deeply emotional. It’s about motherhood, creation, and the lengths we’ll go to protect what we love — even when we’re not sure what it really is.
By the time I reached the end, I realized that Unborn isn’t really about science or the supernatural. It’s about inheritance — what we carry from those who came before, and what we unknowingly pass on. It’s about the ache of being human in a world that keeps asking us to prove we exist.
Summary:
Overall, Unborn is a haunting, beautiful story about science, motherhood, and the unknowable threads that connect us. It’s the kind of book that lingers quietly after you’ve finished it — the kind that leaves you wondering whether what you just read was speculative fiction or something closer to a modern myth.
If you like stories that mix atmosphere and emotion — think The Time Traveler’s Wife, Never Let Me Go, or The Daughter of Doctor Moreau — you’ll find something to love here. It’s for readers who enjoy a story that makes you think and feel at the same time; readers who don’t mind when mystery lingers even after the answers come. Happy reading!
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