Lightbreakers

A California couple's marriage is put to the test when they take part in a dodgy experiment in Gabel's satisfying sophomore novel (after The Ensemble). Noah, a physicist, marries artist Maya after his previous marriage to fellow scientist Eileen broke apart following the death of their toddler, Serena, from a rare heart disease. Noah's newfound happiness with Maya is upended by a billionaire's invitation to take part in the secretive Janus Project, an experiment on human consciousness that allows its subject to "reexperience" memories "with all his present self's knowledge" once he enters a "time bath." Maya, who's stalled in her own career, joins Noah at Janus's isolated research site in the desert, where he dives into the work, especially once he's able to interact with Serena in the time baths. Feeling abandoned, Maya turns her thoughts to her ex, Ren. After Noah recruits Eileen to join the project, things spin out of control, driving the plot to a surprising final twist. Along the way, Gabel explores the characters' previous relationships with a great deal of nuance, showing how Noah and Maya each struggle to let go of the past, as when Maya comes to see Ren as a valuable muse for her art, though their relationship was clearly toxic. Gabel hits a winning combination in this tale of modern love and time travel. Agent: Andrea Morrison, Writers House. (Nov.)

A secret scientific breakthrough threatens to split up a married couple. Gabel's affecting sophomore novel follows Noah, a grief-stricken physicist, as he navigates the world after a devastating loss. Noah was once married to Eileen, a biologist and his first love, but their relationship and lives fell apart after the sudden death of their almost 4-year-old daughter, Serena. More than half a decade later, Noah is now remarried to Maya, a lapsed artist, who entered his world "like a warm steady light after years of darkness, pain, and grief." As the novel weaves together the perspectives of Noah, Maya, and Eileen, the three characters' lives begin to intersect after Noah accepts a job from Klein Michaels, a disgraced billionaire, to work on a top-secret, shadowy venture. The Janus Project allows people to travel back to their own memories, not as an outside observer but as their current self. As Noah becomes increasingly lost in his work and the possibility of seeing Serena again, Maya feels a distance swelling between them. With a precarious present and an uncertain future, they each look toward their past for comfort and answers: Noah decides to bring Eileen into the Janus Project, and Maya starts communicating with her artist ex-boyfriend. As Noah teeters on the brink of no return, Eileen contacts Maya with a plea: "how strange it was that they'd both decided the same thing…at the same time, like entangled particles, like knowledge traveling faster than the speed of light, like people of the same family, context, past, future, now." The two women work to escape their situation, which threatens their physical, emotional, and temporal well-being. 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. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.