The Natural God — Tom Phillips

Biologist Marti Jamison and her physicist husband Richard have left Columbia University to come to the small Texas campus of Plainview University where Marti will teach evolutionary biology and Richard will pursue research in the physics of Virtual Reality, at the lab constructed under his direction, the Virtual CAVE. Marti's life collapses when she is diagnosed with Huntington's disease, a genetically transmitted disease that kills the cells in her brain. In despair, atheist Marti turns to religion, while Richard frantically researches the science of a gene therapy cure. Their teenage daughter Jesse, however, has a different idea - enlisting the help of The Natural God... This novel explores the philosophy of science, religions, and the ultimate nature of reality, as seen through the eyes of its three characters.