4.0
Time Travel for Beginners
ByPublisher Description
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF SUMMER BY PEOPLE, GOODREADS, SHEREADS, BUZZFEED, AND SOUTHERN LIVING
In her dazzling new novel, award-winning author Jaclyn Moriarty asks the question, if you could revisit one moment in your life, what would it be?
On a bustling road in Sydney, Australia, lies a nondescript storefront known simply as the Time Travel Agency. Inside, you’ll be welcomed by the smell of fresh-brewed coffee, a selection of baked goods…and the question, Where in time do you wish to go?
The guidelines are simple: you can go whenever you wish into the past, and there’s no fear of altering the present. Have tea with Jane Austen, scream at a Beatles concert, witness the Olympics in ancient Greece. Perhaps a more personal trip? Visit your long-lost grandmother, recapture the heady days of your youth, return to the idyllic time when your teen was a babbling baby—or watch yourself make the one decision that changed everything.
Is it a hoax? And if it’s real, what’s the catch?
When single mother Anna is offered a job at the agency, she glimpses the possibility of happiness. Meanwhile, Teddy’s a customer hoping to untangle his recently imploded marriage. And Jade, who has a deeply buried secret, despises the agency for offering false hope.
In Jaclyn Moriarty’s incandescent novel, Anna, Teddy, and Jade leap headlong into time, hurtling on a crash course toward one another. At turns entertaining and illuminating, Time Travel for Beginners explores the moments, big and small, that shape our destiny.
In her dazzling new novel, award-winning author Jaclyn Moriarty asks the question, if you could revisit one moment in your life, what would it be?
On a bustling road in Sydney, Australia, lies a nondescript storefront known simply as the Time Travel Agency. Inside, you’ll be welcomed by the smell of fresh-brewed coffee, a selection of baked goods…and the question, Where in time do you wish to go?
The guidelines are simple: you can go whenever you wish into the past, and there’s no fear of altering the present. Have tea with Jane Austen, scream at a Beatles concert, witness the Olympics in ancient Greece. Perhaps a more personal trip? Visit your long-lost grandmother, recapture the heady days of your youth, return to the idyllic time when your teen was a babbling baby—or watch yourself make the one decision that changed everything.
Is it a hoax? And if it’s real, what’s the catch?
When single mother Anna is offered a job at the agency, she glimpses the possibility of happiness. Meanwhile, Teddy’s a customer hoping to untangle his recently imploded marriage. And Jade, who has a deeply buried secret, despises the agency for offering false hope.
In Jaclyn Moriarty’s incandescent novel, Anna, Teddy, and Jade leap headlong into time, hurtling on a crash course toward one another. At turns entertaining and illuminating, Time Travel for Beginners explores the moments, big and small, that shape our destiny.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesTime Travel for Beginners Reviews
4.0
“Rating: 4.5 stars
Time Travel for Beginners is a speculative fiction novel focused on the experience of three individuals: Anna, a struggling mom working at a time travel agency; Teddy, a customer of the agency trying to understand his recent divorce; and Jade, a successful mom struggling to balance life and grief. The three stories intertwine in a variety of ways as all of our characters learn about their present while engaging with the past.
This story really blends the genres of book club fiction and science fiction. The time travel element is engaging, but far more important in the story are the relationships; Jade and Anna with their teenage daughters, Jade with her mentor Rena, Anna with Teddy, and both Holly and Nicola with their friend groups. The story anchors itself in these developing relationships, especially both mothers as they try to understand their role and responsibilities to their pubescent child.
This story had a big twist at the last third that really surprised me; I thought I knew what was happening, but the twist blew me away. It’s rare that I don’t see a twist coming, but the more I followed it, the more it made sense. I really enjoyed the twist, and I think it made the book more enjoyable overall. I can see how reading the book a second time, with the knowledge of what is to come, would be a really enjoyable experience.
The time travel elements in the story are often a backdrop for the larger relationships, rather than a focus in itself. However, Moriarty does give attention to a number of historical authors, creating detailed time travel tours for our characters to follow amongst famous authors. You can tell this is a book for book lovers by book lovers, because the emphasis on classical authors was disproportionate to what an actual time travel agency might do. Still, it gave a groundedness to a very abstract concept that was engaging and insightful.
Altogether, this was an excellent novel focusing on the relationships between people against the backdrop of time travel. The big twist at the third act really made the story worth it to me, and my enjoyment of the book was much stronger after it.
This advanced reader copy was provided to me by Berkley publishing in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”
About Jaclyn Moriarty
Jaclyn Moriarty is the award-winning author of books for readers of all ages. She has been the recipient of the NSW Premier’s Literary Award, the Queensland Literary Award, and the Aurealis Award for Fantasy. Her books have been named Boston Globe Honor Books, White Raven selections and recognized by the American Library Association. A former media lawyer and one of the talented and popular Moriarty sisters (including Liane and Nicola), Jaclyn lives in Sydney, Australia, along with her teenage son.
Other books by Jaclyn Moriarty
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