A luminous novel of love and loss, "as breathtaking as it is mind-bending" (Rachel Khong), that asks: what would you give to relive the past?

Maya, an artist, and Noah, a quantum physicist, share an insatiable curiosity about the world. But their happy marriage has a shadow over it: Serena, the child Noah had with his first wife, who died before she turned four.

When Noah is invited by the Janus Project to unravel the secrets of time travel, he jumps at the opportunity. At a laboratory deep in the Texas desert, he begins participating in a dangerous experiment that could result in something he thought impossible: seeing his daughter again.

Meanwhile, Maya embarks on a journey back to her own past in Japan, and to a formative lover who once shattered her heart. As Noah and Maya grapple with hope and despair, new information emerges that the experiments might not be exactly what they seems.  

A heartachingly 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.

Story Locale:Texas, Los Angeles, Japan
 
Contributor Bio(s)
 
Aja Gabel is the author of the novel The Ensemble. Her prose can be found in The Cut, LA Times, Oprah Daily, and elsewhere. Her short story “Little Fish” was adapted into a feature film, and she has written for tv shows on HBO, Apple, and Disney. She lives and writes in Los Angeles.

Author Residence: Los Angeles

Author Hometown: Santa Rosa, CA