by Aja Gabel
First published 2025
Noah receives an unexpected call from a wealthy stranger inviting him to join a secretive research project at the Janus Lab in the desert. The quantum physicist sees an opportunity to use experimental time travel technology to reconnect with Serena, the daughter he lost contact with after his divorce from Eileen. His wife Maya, an artist fascinated by beauty's essence, agrees to the relocation despite her reservations. When Eileen arrives to join the project, the lab's true nature becomes questionable. Maya responds by traveling to Japan to confront her own past, including a former lover who broke her heart years ago. As Noah becomes consumed by the dangerous experiments that might reunite him with Serena, the three adults must navigate the painful territory between clinging to what's gone and accepting what remains. The mysterious project forces each character to examine whether revisiting the past comes at too high a price.
Genres: science-fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, adult, adult-fiction, family-drama
Vibes: emotionally-complex, intimate, introspective, melancholic, thought-provoking
Tropes: forced-proximity, love-triangle, past-haunting-present, second-chance
Setting: Janus Lab, Desert, Japan
Period: Contemporary
352 pages · Hardcover · Riverhead Books
Content warnings: death