Under Story : The dazzling new novel from the internationally bestselling author of The Immortalists

Deftly mixing science fiction and romance, this enthralling love story from the acclaimed author of The Immortalists centres on a glowing Arc in the Antarctic and the possibilities for second chances that it holds.

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.

MEDIA REVIEWS

A rapturously beautiful novel. I was in awe of Chloe Benjamin's universe-straddling imagination, her profound writing on love and grief, and her telescopic vision that lets her zoom into the smallest chambers of the human heart and far out again into the laws of theoretical physics. I loved Under Story - Kaliane Bradley, Sunday Times Bestselling Author of The Ministry of Time

Under Story is phenomenal, and one of the best books I've read in years. Wondrous, wildly ambitious, an epic love story that I'm so grateful exists in the world - Ann Napolitano, New York Times Bestselling Author of Hello Beautiful

Under Story is a spectacular novel. It is utterly transporting, with an imaginative scope that feels both breathtaking and profound. I was blown away by it - Clare Leslie Hall, Sunday Times bestselling author of Broken Country

A fiendishly clever, utterly original novel that gets to the heart of what it means to be alive. Under Story is dazzling, it will change you - Emilia Hart, Sunday Times bestselling author of Weyward and The Sirens

A mind-bending, head-popping sci-fi love story full of intrigue and tenderness - Claire Fuller, Author of Our Endless Numbered Days and Hunger and Thirst

Count on Benjamin to ask the big questions-what makes a life worth living? What is the nature of time? Where do we belong?-and entertain us fully all the while. Cannot wait to read... - Lit Hub, Most Anticipated Reads 2026