Tell the Machine Goodnight

Pearl's job is to make people happy. Every day she provides customers with personalized recommendations for greater contentment. She's good at her job, her office manager tells her, successful. But how does one measure an emotion? Meanwhile, there's Pearl's teenage son, Rhett. A sensitive kid who has forged an unconventional path through adolescence, Rhett seems to find greater contentment in being unhappy.

Told from an alternating cast of endearing characters from within Pearl and Rhett’s world, Tell the Machine Goodnight delivers a smartly moving and entertaining story about relationships and the ways that they can most surprise and define us. With warmth, humor, and a clever touch, Williams taps into our collective unease about the modern world and allows us see it a little more clearly.