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Cover of Under Story by Chloe Benjamin

Literary Fiction · Free kit

Under Story

Chloe Benjamin

After the death of their son Silas, mycologist Laurel Salter and physicist Eli Rosen fracture — she flees to Antarctica to wash dishes at McMurdo Station while he chases a strange light in the ice called the Arc. When the Arc proves to be a portal to the Duoverse, where time runs backward, Laurel and Eli step through hoping to undo tragedy. They take the places of their younger selves, age in reverse toward birth, and wait for Silas to be born again — asking how far love will go for one more tomorrow, and what it costs the planet they leave behind.

“We wake up to tomorrow, never yesterday.”

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Reading schedule · Book vote

Under Story Icebreakers

Answer in under 30 seconds. These connect to the book’s themes without spoiling the story.

  1. Personality Reveal

    1. When something unbearable happens, are you more likely to disappear into work — or disappear geographically?

  2. Personality Reveal

    2. Do you trust science to eventually explain almost everything — or do some mysteries feel permanently human?

  3. Personality Reveal

    3. Are you the friend who asks “are you okay?” once, or the friend who asks until someone actually answers?

  4. Funny & Light

    4. What’s the most overqualified job you’ve ever taken — or fantasized about taking — just to reset your brain?

  5. Funny & Light

    5. If you had to spend a winter at a research station, what useless-but-fun skill would you bring to morale night?

  6. Funny & Light

    6. Would you rather explain your job to a room of physicists or a room of mushroom enthusiasts?

  7. Would You Rather

    7. Would you rather live somewhere breathtaking but isolated, or somewhere boring but five minutes from your best friend?

  8. Would You Rather

    8. Would you rather know exactly how much time you have with someone you love, or never know and keep guessing?

  9. Would You Rather

    9. Would you rather relive your twenties with today’s wisdom, or skip ahead ten years with no preview?

  10. Hot Take

    10. Hot take: running toward a big discovery is sometimes just running away from feelings. Agree or disagree?

  11. Hot Take

    11. Hot take: couples who survive child loss together are the exception, not the rule — and stories should show that more. Yes or no?

  12. Hot Take

    12. Hot take: “everything happens for a reason” is never the right thing to say to a grieving person. Defend your side in one sentence.

  13. Personal Connection

    13. What’s a place so cold or quiet it would either heal you or break you — and which do you think would win?

  14. Personal Connection

    14. Who taught you that love and grief can occupy the same room without canceling each other out?

  15. Personal Connection

    15. What’s one small daily ritual that keeps you oriented when life feels unmoored?