Jenny’s Pick of the Week: Lightbreakers

“There was something sad about leaving your sadness behind.” — Aja Gabel, Lightbreakers

If you could travel back in time to visit a loved one that you had lost, would you? Aja Gabel examines this loaded question in her second novel, Lightbreakers. Following three individuals bound by grief, this work of literary science fiction transcends genre in its thoughtful exploration of loss, love, and the consequences of making impossible choices.

Noah, a grieving quantum physicist, is recruited by an eccentric—because of course he is—billionaire to participate in the Janus Project, which allows participants to relive their own memories and effectively travel back in time. For Noah, this means reconnecting with his young daughter before her death. His ex-wife Eileen also joins the project, and together with Noah’s current wife, Maya, the three navigate the complex, overlapping webs of memory and love.

Rather than veering into branching timelines or multiversal mechanics, Gabel keeps the story firmly grounded in the present, choosing instead to center the plot around the raw wounds each character struggles to mend. Seasoned readers of science fiction may find the principles of time travel are left intentionally opaque—in fact one character even waves off the need to understand them at all. While this suits the novel’s themes nicely, it may surprise fans of rigorously defined science fiction.

If there is a lead protagonist, it’s Noah. His grief is at the core of the story, driving not only his decisions and obsessions, but also his relationships with Maya and Eileen. Noah’s chapters give readers the most to consider, most notably: how much will he be willing to sacrifice to see his daughter again? The answer isn’t entirely clear, but following the decline of his mental stability is one of the story’s most compelling plot points.

Weaving together resonant family drama, inventive science fiction elements, and genuinely lovely prose, Lightbreakers creates a tapestry of genre-bending beauty. If you’re expecting a tightly engineered time-travel epic, adjust accordingly, but don’t pass up this deeply human story.

Fans of reflective literary science fiction like The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel, and The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain will find so much to love here.

Photo by Angi Welsch