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Most novels that feature time travel have some common aspects. That goes for, among many others, the latest Harry Potter, The Time Machine, and the romantic and unscientific The Time Traveller's Wife. All of these stories resonate with the human longing to go back and change something, to make other choices.
Who isn't frustrated by or at least ambivalent toward the limited span of a life, how quickly it has gone by as you look back or dare to look forward? We want more. Most religions are a way to time travel: in one denomination, you get to start over in some sort of after-life that goes on forever, and in another form you get to keep coming back to begin again.
Time travel fiction takes advantage of the persistent melancholy that afflicts some of us—a ghostly awareness of being part of the long span of past and future history, yet stuck in this one brief lifetime.
Finally, beyond the philosophizing, a well-written story is a good story, no matter what strings it pulls in your head and heart. And now, here are some of the latest time travel novels that have come to my attention:
TRAVEL THROUGH TIME WITH THESE 5 BOOKS
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch is a character-driven novel that centers on a husband and wife who chose to put family before their scientific and artistic careers, respectively. Their mild regrets surely mirror some of our own, only in this story, time is played with and they get to experience what they missed, willingly or not. Crouch takes his time telling the story, relishing the happiness of ordinary family evenings that turn out not to have been fully appreciated by the couple and their teen son.
Standing happy and slightly drunk in my kitchen, I’m unaware that tonight is the end of all of this. The end of everything I know, everything I love.
Now the plot surges forward: our protagonist is kidnapped by a man with a gun who knows far too much about our hero's past. I found this semi-scientific/almost-philosophical/psychological adventure novel to be thoroughly engaging.
Valley of the Moon by Melanie Gideon is slightly different. It's 1975 and our female protagonist, while camping out alone without her son one night, chances across an oddly dressed group. She doesn't understand who or what they are:
“We are not actors. We are not a religious sect. This is not a commune,” said Joseph.
“I didn’t mean to insult you. I was just trying to understand what was going on. Where I was,” I said.
“You’re at Greengage Farm,” said Martha. “In the Valley of the Moon. You’ve heard of Greengage?” she asked.
“No.”
Martha turned to Joseph, her eyebrows knit together in worry, no longer able to hide her emotions. “But we’ve been here for seventeen years. Everybody knows who we are.”
I shrugged. “I’m sorry. I live in San Francisco. That’s probably why I’ve never heard of you.”
.... “It’s 1975?” he asked me.
“Yes,” I said, baffled.
He gave me a grave look.
“What is the problem?” I asked.
He hesitated. “It’s 1906 here.”
Their way of life intrigues her as an escape from her frenzied modern life. But her son is back home (in the future). Can a man from the past and a woman from now make a life together?
Bury the Living by Jodi McIsaac is set amid The Troubles in Ireland. There's a handy glossary at the start to define such words as IRA, Free State, provos, etc. Readers need not worry too much about that and can focus on the time travel romance aspects of the tale. Nora, 15 in 1990, spirited and impulsive, has been caught selling drugs to her mates and is encouraged to join the Irish Republican Army. Not interested, she leaves home only to return 14 years later after having repeated dreams or visions of a man who needs her help. Once she learns who the man is, and that he is due to be killed in a few days, she travels 80 years into the past to find him. When she falls in love with him, she tries to alter history.
The Tourist by Robert Dickinson offers readers more adventure than deep character development. We're reminded early on that "time travel is confusing." An imprisoned man is offered a shortened sentence if he'll agree to go undercover as a time tourist, visiting the past (the early 21st century). Time tourists are amusing in their resemblance to today's actual tourists who care more for souvenir shops than in learning to understand a place (or time). The only science fiction jargon is what is necessary. The twists and turns eventually become clear, and the ending is a surprise.
All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai begins like this:
Today, in the year 2016, humanity lives in a techno-utopian paradise of abundance, purpose, and wonder. Except we don’t. Of course we don’t. We live in a world where, sure, there are iPhones and 3D printers and, I don’t know, drone strikes or whatever. But it hardly looks like The Jetsons. Except it should. And it did. Until it didn’t. But it would have, if I hadn’t done what I did. Or, no, hold on, what I will have done.
And although the protagonist's father invented time travel, we are told this (and I for one was taken aback): "Here’s why every time-travel movie you’ve ever seen is total bullshit: because the Earth moves."
Nevertheless, I was always fully engaged while reading this smart and ambitious amalgam of alternate timelines, adventure, and humor. (I included this book even though it comes out in a few months. It's worth pre-ordering.)
NOTE: Cross your fingers with me (in a non-superstitious way) so I can speedily complete my own time travel novel.
Copyright (c) 2016 by Susan K. Perry, author of Kylie’s Heel
