A moving novel that plumbs the mysteries of human connection and explores how to live and love in a world where time is both a healer and a thief, for readers of Emily St. John Mandel, Julia Armfield and Jennifer Egan

Maya, an artist, and Noah, a quantum physicist, are happily married. But beneath the surface of their wedded bliss is a third rail: Serena, the lost child that Noah had with his ex-wife.

When 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, and Noah finds himself drawn into a dangerous kind of time travel that could result in seeing Serena again.

But Janus lab is not what it seems, and soon Noah and Maya are drawn into its dangerous web, where they must grapple with their pasts and plumb the depths of human connection to find their way back to one another.

Review

A rich, compassionate study of love, regret and memory ― Guardian, A Book of the Month

A tense page-turner that is a heart-aching story of grief and an uplifting affirmation that, as Larkin had it, what will survive of us is love ― The Daily Mail

Absolutely stunning . . . This is a novel that will make you feel. Feel deeply, devastatingly, beautifully about the people who shape us and the choices we make ― LoveReading

A thought-provoking exploration of memory, loss and the intersections of past and present ― Mail on Sunday

Challenging typical conceptions of time, love, and grief, Lightbreakers by Aja Gabel is a deeply moving, mind-bending read ― Real Simple

A wistful tale of introspection and longing for other possibilities by a master of character development ― BookPage (starred review)

A phenomenal portrait of profound grief ― Booklist (starred review)

Affecting . . . 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

Satisfying . . . Gabel hits a winning combination in this tale of modern love and time travel ― Publishers Weekly

Audaciously tackles life's most formative experiences: love and loss. Lightbreakers explores how people use both science and art to understand the universe-offering us its own insights into what it is to be human -- Rumaan Alam, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND

Exists in a category all its own: a novel about grief, ambition, and love that is somehow both gripping and deeply felt, as breath-taking as it is mind-bending. Aja Gabel's prose is like music, vivid with wisdom, curiosity, and emotion. This is a book that tenderly examines the limits of our understanding-about the universe and each other-and the strangeness of living in time -- Rachel Khong, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of REAL AMERICANS

Lightbreakers is compassionate and prismatic, an intellectual adventure as well as a deeply human meditation on memory, family, and reinvention. To what extent-and at what cost-can the past sustain us? How can we step into the future without abandoning our previous selves? Aja Gabel's second novel is my favorite kind: soulful science fiction that speaks to the mind as well as the heart -- Chloe Benjamin, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of THE IMMORTALISTS

A magisterial and moving novel about love and grief that is somehow unsentimental and yet extraordinarily tender . . . Lightbreakers is complex, startling, and impossibly alive -- Kevin Wilson, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of NOTHING TO SEE HERE

A marriage story that twists into a sci-fi thriller, posing questions about the elusiveness of the past and the time-jumping nature of grief. Like walking down a hall of mirrors, mesmerized by its reflections and refractions, reading Lightbreakers made me see things anew -- Ling Ma, author of SEVERANCE

You will love this genre-busting book . . . A cross of literary fiction and sci-fi, it's also a beautiful meditation of grief, time, and love

-- Samin Nosrat, bestselling author of SALT, ACID, FAT, HEAT

About the Author

Aja Gabel is the author of The Ensemble, and her forthcoming novel Lightbreakers will be released in November 2025. Her prose can be found in The Cut, LA Times, Buzzfeed, BOMB, and elsewhere. She studied writing at Wesleyan University and the University of Virginia, and has a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Houston. Aja has been the recipient of awards from Inprint, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Her short story "Little Fish" was adapted into a feature film, and she is developing several screenwriting projects in TV and film. She currently lives and writes in Los Angeles.