Check This Out Host Rachel Barenbaum talks with debut novelist Ruben Reyes, Jr., about his novel, "Archive of Unknown Universes."
Cambridge, 2018. Ana and Luis’s relationship is on the rocks, despite their many similarities, including their mothers who both fled El Salvador during the war.
In her search for answers, Ana turns to The Defractor, an experimental device that allows users to peek into alternate versions of their lives.
What she sees leads her and Luis on a quest through Havana and San Salvador to uncover the family histories they are desperate to know, eager to learn if what might have been could fix what is.
Havana, 1978. The Salvadoran war is brewing, and Neto, a young revolutionary with a knack for forging government papers, meets Rafael at a meeting for the People's Revolutionary Army.
The two form an intense and forbidden love, shedding their fake names and revealing themselves to each other inside the covert world of their activism.
When their work separates them, they begin to exchange weekly letters, but soon, as the devastating war rages on, forces beyond their control threaten to pull them apart forever.
Read the novel with your book club! Each episode of Check This Out includes downloadable discussion prompts to spark conversations with your book club.
In a special bonus following the conversation with Ruben Reyes, Jr., we chat with Zibby Owens to get a view of what's happening in the publishing world today. You may remember our conversation about her novel "Blank" on Check This Out in June 2024.
She's the founder of Zibby Media, which includes the daily podcast Totally Booked with Zibby, Zibby Publishing, and Zibby’s Bookshop in Santa Monica, CA. You can find her on Substack and Instagram.
Check this Out features lively conversations with up and coming authors you may not have discovered yet. Check This Out is proud to partner with The PEN/Faulkner Foundation to champion new voices in literature.
Support your local bookstore, or buy your copy of "The Devil Three Time" from Zibby's Bookshop, a sponsor of Check This Out.
