Libby is trapped in a world on the brink of WWI attempting to fend off her mother's attempt to use her as a social pawn and dreaming of delving into things that matter, until she goes to sleep and wakes up in Colonial Williamsburg running her late father's print shop as the colonies and England move closer to war.
Honestly, this is one of the most unique premises I've encountered in awhile.
One consciousness, two bodies, two time periods, two entirely separate lives.
Each day is lived as any other until midnight strikes, the traveler sleeps and wakes in their alternate life loosing no time in one while living the other. This cycle then continues until their 21st birthday when they must choose one life leaving the other and all it holds behind forever.
In a lot of ways this felt like two historical novels in one. I really enjoyed how Meyer was able to capture the details and rhythms of both colonial America and early 20th century America. More importantly, I was captured by Libby and how thoroughly Meyer captured her heart and duty in both lives and the tension she held as her birthday approached.
Meyer's ability to capture Libby's growth and grieving really anchored the story as well as highlighting the premises uniqueness attributes. Libby's reality of saying goodbye to a life that would think her dead and gone while she stayed anchored in the other added different layers to her relationships that really gave the plot an extra layer of interest.
I appreciated the implied lore of time travelling running through family lines as well with Libby's Williamsburg mother also being a traveler, mentoring Libby in how to navigate the unique challenges of the life they'd been given.
I also found it interesting that, given how unique the time travelling premise was, the travelers we meet throughout the book are all people of faith despite their situation. I'm not exactly sure what genre this type of time travelling falls under (it doesn't quite feel sci-fi, yet it's so grounded in historical fantasy doesn't feel accurate either.) but it was encouraging to have a faith based story that wasn't afraid to incorporate more fantastical elements.
The only downsides were in it's conclusion. Considering how well written and engaging each timeline was, everything felt almost too neatly wrapped up with Libby, Reggie, and Henry in the end. I mean I know this is historical fiction/ time travel book and stretches beyond the fantastic but for so many paths to converge into a perfect path just seemed a little too shiny as much as I wanted happiness for Libby.
As a fan of historical fiction, this was like getting two engaging stories in one and despite my mixed feelings over the conclusion I would easily read another one of Meyer's characters journey through time
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