In Bee Ridgway’s wonderfully imaginative debut novel, a man and a woman travel through time in a quest to bring down a secret society that controls the past and, thus, the future.
“You are now a member of the Guild . There is no return.” Two hundred years after he was about to die on a Napoleonic battlefield, Nick Falcott, soldier and aristocrat, wakes up in a hospital bed in modern London. The Guild, an entity that controls time travel, showers him with life's advantages. But Nick yearns for home and for one brown-eyed girl, lost now down the centuries. Then the Guild asks him to break its own rule. It needs Nick to go back to 1815 to fight the Guild’s enemies and to find something called the Talisman.
In 1815, Julia Percy mourns the death of her beloved grandfather, an earl who could play with time. On his deathbed he whispers in her ear: “Pretend!” Pretend what? When Nick returns home as if from the dead, older than he should be and battle scarred, Julia begins to suspect that her very life depends upon the secrets Grandfather never told her. Soon enough Julia and Nick are caught up in an adventure that stretches up and down the river of time. As their knowledge of the Guild and their feelings for each other grow, the fate of the future itself is hanging in the balance.
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Release Date: April 23rd 2013
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I was intrigued by this book as the cover didn't strike me as being very time travel, it looked more like a Katie FForde type cover. I don't know if that was the plan but anyway...
The book has been likened to The Time Traveler's Wife which has probably done the book good and bad. People who loved the book will want to read something similar and those that didn't will never want to read this one. More about that later.
The story starts out in 1815 with Julia believing that her grandfather's manipulation of time has died with him. Skip ahead to 2013 and Nick who was near death in 1812 transported to 2003. Both is these stories intertwine throughout the book. There is also The Guild, the organisation for those who have 'jumped'. There is a lot going on in the book but it dealt with carefully as it would be easy to confuse the reader. I found myself turning pages quicker and quicker, wanting to know what was next.
The love story was believable, honest and sweet. But it's not just a love story, it's more of an adventure type story mixed with romance and time travel. If you didn't like The Time Traveler's Wife then don't be out off by this book as it is a very flimsy comparison in my eyes. I really enjoyed this story and I think there could be a sequel if the author was up for continuing the story, I would definitely want to read it.