The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley, Shelley Wood
The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley, Shelley Wood
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley

Author: Shelley Wood

Narrator: Rachel Botchan

Unabridged: 13 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 08/06/2024


Synopsis

WHAT IF YOU GREW ONLY ONE YEAR OLDER EVERY FOUR YEARS?

FEBRUARY 29, 1916: After an unusually long pregnancy, war widow Lillian McKinley gives birth to a baby girl on leap day. Kit proves to be a healthy, happy, and intelligent child, but unnaturally slow to age—growing just one year older every four years. For decades, she and her
family must stay on the move to protect her secret—from insatiable newshounds, from Nazi scientists, and from doctors and pharmaceutical companies. When Kit at last can pass for an adult, she must decide whether she wants to stay perpetually on the run or form lasting ties.

Ultimately, once the human genome is mapped and research on altering it begins, she will need to make some difficult choices about the strange quirk in her DNA that has made her who she is.

This sweeping historical epic—a race through the past century’s burgeoning understanding of genetics and eugenics—asks: What is normal time? A normal human? A normal life?

About Shelley Wood

SHELLEY WOOD is a Canadian writer and journalist. Her breakout debut novel, The Quintland Sisters, sold approximately 50,000 copies in North America and debuted as a #1 bestseller on the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail fiction lists, holding the top spot for five weeks, then ending the year as #7 on the list of the top 10 bestselling books of 2019. Shelley Wood lives in British Columbia.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jasmine on August 14, 2024

The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley follows a century of Kit’s life. Kit McKinley was born on February 29, 1916. She ages one year for every four. It follows various POVs from WWI to the present day. Once Kit is a bit older, the reader also gets her perspective. Living an exceedingly long life seems......more

Goodreads review by Karren on July 05, 2024

On the 29th of February 1916 Lillian McKinley gives birth to a daughter, a leap year baby and her husband died in The Great War. Baby Katherine is doted on by her mother, Aunt Natalie and Uncle Ernest, they notice she’s behind in her development and not reaching her milestones. Kip only grows one ye......more

Goodreads review by Rachelle on February 23, 2025

Loved it all. A little disappointed in the ending, but only because it ended.......more

Goodreads review by Moonkiszt on December 16, 2024

It seems Kit McKinley is born with a gene that coordinates with Western calendar's February leap year. . .and since being born on that once in 4 years date (the 29th), she has a yearly growth rate that is 1-to-4 compared with other children. In other words, when she has been alive 8 years she's aged......more

Goodreads review by Emy on February 14, 2024

Read as an ARC from Netgalley. All opinions are my own. This is the type of book someone who loves biographies and/or history would love. It has the "Invisible Life of Addie Larue" kind of vibes where the main characters has to live hidden, not from people close to her, but society in general. (The......more