Bee Königswasser

Bee Königswasser is the main character and first person narrator of the novel. At the start of Love on the Brain, Bee is living in Bethesda, Virginia, where she works for the National Institutes of Health. In Chapter 1, however, Bee receives word from NASA that she has “been chosen as lead investigator of BLINK, one of their most prestigious neuroengineering research projects” (2, 3). This news catalyzes Bee’s journey towards confrontation with her past. Indeed, in the novel’s narrative present, Bee has yet to heal from her recent heartbreak over losing her fiancé Tim and her best friend Annie. After Tim and Annie betrayed Bee by sleeping together just six months before Bee’s wedding, she lost two of the people with whom she was most intimate. These hurts have convinced her that she cannot trust people, either as friends or romantic partners.

Because of...