Published 1st September 2026 by Tinder Press.
From the cover of the book:
At an isolated research station in Antarctica, biologist Laurel Salter washes dishes for a living ten hours a day, six days a week. She tells no one why she left her career, or why her marriage ended.
But even in this remote outpost, Laurel can't outrun her past. When a strange light appears across the ice and draws a group of physicists to McMurdo, her former husband, Eli, won't be far behind.
Laurel is captivated by the Arc: its surreal glow; the way it seems almost alive. And though Eli is reluctant to test her wildest theory, Laurel is convinced that the Arc leads down a rabbit hole and into a world they can barely imagine. Can she persuade him to risk everything to fix the burden that hangs between them - to turn back the clock and live their story a second time?
And this time, live it differently.
Once read, never forgotten, Under Story is a genre-defying exploration of the promise of this life, what might lie beyond it, and how far we would go for more time with the people we love.
***********
Personal tragedy and a broken marriage has led Laurel Salter to leave her career as a research mycologist behind, and escape to an isolated research station in Antarctica. She now spends her days working long shifts as a kitchen steward, and she keeps the secrets of her life to herself.
But Laurel cannot outrun her past. When her ex-husband Eli, a physicist, arrives at the research station to study a strange phenomena out on the ice, that everyone has named the Arc, she is forced to confront the pain she has left behind.
Laurel is fascinated by the Arc, and has an idea about what its presence might mean. A vivid dream leads to her sharing her theory with Eli, and together they decide to risk everything to confirm if what she believes could be true.
This ambitious, high concept novel has a fascinating speculative premise, and Chloe Benjamin pushes expansive boundaries in exploring many facets of the themes she explores within its pages. Without giving too much away, the story revolves around the idea that our universe is not alone, but rather one of a matching pair of duo universes in which time moves differently.
The first part of the novel bleeds between Laurel's present in Antarctica, and the history of her relationship with Eli, her mother, her friends, and her work colleagues - as well as delving in detail into her research studying fungi. It then moves firmly into speculative country, introducing mind-bending ideas about the universe which is the antithesis of our own, and the opportunities this presents to Laurel and Eli in making amends for the mistakes of their past. This latter part of the story also brings relevance to her research as a mycologist, which it is not easy to see at the beginning.
In many ways, this is an amorphous novel, torn between a hard-edged sci-fi story with a really original premise, and a slow-burn exploration of love, loss, and redemption. Sometimes it does not feel like all the many themes being explored belong in a single story, and elements of the anti-universe world-building are deeply unsettling. As someone who prefers their speculative novels on the fast-paced, propulsive side, with logical constructs, this meant I did struggle getting though some parts of this one.
However, it absolutely ticks all the boxes on the thought-provoking front, and if high concept novels that get into the nitty gritty of the human condition are your bag then you will find lots here to enjoy. It certainly left me with a lot to ponder on about the nature of time, and the laws of physics we take for granted.
Under Story is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Tinder Press for sending me a review copy of this book.
About the author:
Chloe Benjamin is the author of The New York Times bestseller The Immortalists, and The Anatomy of Dreams. The Immortalists was a Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly and NPR Best Book of 2018. Her work has been translated into 30 languages. She lives with her husband in the San Francisco Bay area.
No comments:
Post a Comment