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A Novel
by Aja Gabel
A luminous novel of love, loss, science, and art, that asks if the past can ever be truly revisited, and at what cost?
In the beginning, there was happiness. Maya, an artist obsessed with the nature of beauty, and Noah, a quantum physicist preoccupied by the mysteries of the universe, found in each other a shared curiosity about the world. But beneath the surface of their happy marriage is a third rail: Serena, the lost child that Noah had with his ex-wife, Eileen.
One day Noah gets a call from an eccentric billionaire, asking him to participate in a clandestine project aiming to unravel the secrets of time and consciousness. The couple agrees to relocate to the Janus Lab, deep in the desert, where Noah finds himself drawn into a dangerous kind of time travel that could result in seeing Serena again.
As Noah delves into this groundbreaking, fringe work, his past begins to overtake him. And when his ex-wife, Eileen, joins the project, Maya embarks on a journey back to her own past, one that takes her to Japan, to her family, and to a formative lover who once shattered her heart. As Noah, Maya, and Eileen grapple with the balance between holding on and letting go, new information emerges that the Janus Lab might not be exactly what it seems.
A heart-achingly moving novel, Lightbreakers plumbs the mysteries of human connection, and explores how to love in a world where time is both a healer and a thief.
"A phenomenal portrait of profound grief." —Booklist (starred review)
"Readers will love the novel's impressive pacing, and the ideas it presents about the intersection of art and science will linger in the mind." —Bookpage (starred review)
"[S]atisfying...Gabel hits a winning combination in this tale of modern love and time travel." —Publishers Weekly
"Combining elements of science fiction, mystery, and domestic realism, the novel grapples with the complexities of time, memory, grief, family, art, and science. Gabel beautifully explores the ways the past echoes endlessly in the present and into the future—and the unimaginable lure of being with the ones we love no matter the cost. A poignant and sharp novel about love, loss, and finding light in the darkness." —Kirkus Reviews
This information about Lightbreakers was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Darcie Burrell
Aja Gabel is the author of the novel The Ensemble. Her prose can be found in The Cut, the Los Angeles Times, Oprah Daily, and elsewhere. Her short story "Little Fish" was adapted into a feature film, and she has written extensively for television. She lives in Los Angeles.
Name Pronunciation
Aja Gabel: AY-zha GAY-buhl. Like the words "Asia" and "gable."
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