Lightbreakers, by Aja Gabel (Riverhead). In this thrilling work of speculative fiction, a quantum physicist is invited by a billionaire to participate in a secret project at a laboratory in Marfa, Texas. At first, the physicist’s wife, an artist, is excited to go along—her day job has lost its lustre. But, once in Marfa, the couple finds themselves drawn to former lovers. The physicist also learns that one reason he has been invited is because he suffered the loss of a child, and that the project involves transporting him into his memories. Though his prospective journey carries risks, he judges that the project may be worth it. The novel is a penetrating meditation on time and grief. “You never get over it,” one character notes. “There is only the day you turn the corner, when something new is born.”
Before I Forget, by Tory Henwood Hoen (St Martin’s). Cricket Campbell, the protagonist of this novel, endured an unspeakable tragedy at her family’s summer house when she was sixteen—one that changed the trajectory of her life and fractured her relationship with her father, Arthur. Ten years later, Cricket returns to the house for the first time to become a full-time caregiver for Arthur, who has Alzheimer’s. As she steadily adjusts to her new role, and as Arthur’s dementia progresses, Cricket begins to notice something uncanny: Arthur has developed a keen, almost miraculous, ability to tap into the emotions of others, hers included. This quietly charming narrative asks readers to reconsider who is caring for whom, and to ponder the illimitability of human connection.