6. A book with a dual timeline

[Anastasia]

Thank you to those who mentioned Bellewether in this thread. After a little research I discovered Susanna Kearsley is Canadian. The bonus is that the main character is Canadian as well as one of the characters in the second timeline.

It takes place during the seven year war, a decisive war for French Canada, and the present day.

[Misty]

I read Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood for this prompt. One timeline is the present (late 80s), and the second timeline is her childhood starting during WWII.

The book I am reading now for another prompt would also work for this one if anyone is still looking for a book: The Glass Forest by Cynthia Swanson. It is set in the 60s, but the other timeline starts during WWII.

[Shelley]

I loved the idea of duel timelines for this, but I read them all early. Oops. Ended up going with Possession. I hated it. It bounced between a romance between two poets in the 1880s and two academics trying to piece together the mystery in the 1970s. The amount of hoity-toity, self-aggrandizing, academic snobbery in this is ridiculous. So glad I can finally take this off my TBR list.

[Judy]

Sarah wrote: "I'm going to go for Before We Were Yours, as it seems to have a storyline set in 1939, and one set in the present day."

[Judy]

That is my choice. Before We Were Yours

[Marta]

I have read Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo". This describes Cudjo Lewis’ experiences as he recalls them and also the time when Zora Neal Hurston interviews him.

Another that I read this year for my bookclub that could be used is All Our Wrong Todays. This has time travel and multiple parallel times.

[Errlee]

Finally finished The Clockmaker's Daughter for this one. It's the first Kate Morten novel I've read, and while I enjoyed it, I found it long and it seemed to take me forever to read - I thought it dragged a bit, particularly in the middle. But I still enjoyed it overall.

[Janell]

I just finished reading The Leavers and it is excellent, and jumps around forwards and backwards over a span of at least 20 years. Does that count or not?

[Andrea]

I read The Curse of Misty Wayfair by Jaime Jo Wright after winning a copy of it from bookreporter.com. One tale occurred in 1908 while the other took place about a century later.
My first selection was the Clockmaker's Daughter, which I still hope to enjoy it soon!

[Adam]

I read Final Girls.

It has two timelines: present day and what happened in the past.

[Pam]

- What are you reading for this category?
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

- What are the two timelines covered (i.e. years, hours, etc.)?
1952 + some following years and 1969

Really good so far! I see why everyone is raving about it.

[Kathryn]

I read The Passengers by Eleanor Limprecht and gave it 4★.

It was set during and just after WWII, following a woman who married one of the American GIs before he was shipped out to somewhere in the Pacific and she then got passage on a ship full of other newly married women leaving Australia for new lives in the US with their American soldier husbands, and in a contemporary time as she travels on a ship with her granddaughter, heading back to Australia for the first time since she left.

[Alexx]

What are you reading for this category?
I'm reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure it meets the topic (maybe very loosely?)

What are the two timelines covered (i.e. years, hours, etc.)?
The start of WWII and during WWII. I'm not entirely sure it counts but hey ho, I'm enjoying the book anyway!

[Baroness Ekat]

I just finished a book that works for this category

Bird Box. it's told in chapters that alternate between the present and the past.

It was amazingly a good book (not my normal go to type of book) and I highly recommend it.

[Kim]

What are you reading for this category? Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
- What are the two timelines covered (i.e. years, hours, etc.)? the timelines cover about 80 years

[Rachelnyc]

I read Next Year in Havana which has the dual timeline of 1958/59 when the wealthy Perez family is forced to leave Cuba for the US after Castro takes over and the present when the granddaughter of one of the Perez daughters goes to Havana to discover her roots.

There were parts of this book that were predictable and the romance was a bit cheesy (I am not a fan of romance novels) but I really enjoyed the overall story and was fascinated by the insight into Cuba then and now.

I was excited to find out that the author just released a new novel featuring another of the Perez sisters and her experience spying on the Castro administration for the CIA.

[Milena]

Rachelnyc wrote: "I read Next Year in Havana which has the dual timeline of 1958/59 when the wealthy Perez family is forced to leave Cuba for the US after Castro takes over and the present when the g..."

I enjoyed this book also, it was very easy and pleasant reading (not the subject matter, that was not pleasant). But I agree, the romance was very cheesy. Talk about insta-love, isn't that why people hate romances?

[Rachelnyc]

Milena wrote: "Rachelnyc wrote: "I read Next Year in Havana which has the dual timeline of 1958/59 when the wealthy Perez family is forced to leave Cuba for the US after Castro takes over and the ..."

It's definitely one of the things that irritates me about fictional romances!

[Veronica]

I read Before We Were Yours. The timelines were 1939 and present day. It was easy to tell when it transitioned as each chapter heading noted which part we were in.

[Sarah]

I just finished Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell.

I takes place in 2005 and 2015. I read it in 2 days! A great thriller!
But as usual, I read the last few chapters pretty early in, ruining the end.

[Sarah]

What are you reading for this category?
I read The Light Over London of this week.

What are the two timelines covered (i.e. years, hours, etc.)?
It goes between WWII and present day.

[Ashley]

I read Slaughterhouse-Five. One timeline was during a war and the other was after the war.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads)]

I had The Dry tentatively slotted for this prompt, but not only does it fit the more difficult to fill (from my owned TBR at least) NPR book list prompt, but after reading it I'm not sure I'd count it as a dual timeline. There seem to be some blurry lines and personal interpretation as to what counts, but this one definitely felt to me more like one main story line with a lot of flashbacks rather than two complete time lines.

At this point I'm just hoping I randomly happen across a book I own with a dual timeline before the end of the year!

[Jill]

What are you reading for this category?
I read The Lake House by Kate Morton

What are the two timelines covered (i.e. years, hours, etc.)?
1933 and 2003

[[deleted user]]

I read The Masterpiece, the timelines are the 1920s and the 1970s.

[Karissa]

What are you reading for this category? Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
What are the two timelines covered (i.e. years, hours, etc.)? About 70 years apart I think featuring a woman when she was a child and then later her grand-niece.

[Kerry]

Does anyone know if Ghost Light fits this prompt? From the description, it looks like it may but I'm a bit confused what the dual timeline actually means.

[Rachel]

What are you reading for this category?
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

What are the two timelines covered (i.e. years, hours, etc.)?
Mid-80s Chicago during the AIDS crisis and 2015 Paris.

Love it! Highly recommend.

[Angela]

What are you reading for this category?
The Drums of Autumn, by Diana Gabaldon



What are the two timelines covered (i.e. years, hours, etc.)?
1770s Colonial America and 1960s Boston

[Aine]

What are you reading for this category?
Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd

What are the two timelines covered?
1980s - when a "bog child" is unearthed in Fermanagh bogland
*spoiler re time* - when the "bog child" lived

[Marilyn]

I am finally back to reading after a summer (& into late September) of creating and facilitating a few Women Writing from Prompts workshops over summer and a Women's retreat in September. I am way behind in my 52 books challeng (by maybe 7 or 8 books?) but did read one book over a month's time. Unfortunately, am not sure I can fit it into any of the categories. That being said, I am now reading THE GREAT BELIEVERS by Rebecca Makkai and probably 80pp into it. Excellent so far. Time frames are early years of the AIDS crisis and then closer to current times. It keeps reminding of the major effect that another book had on me re those terrible times: AND THE BAND PLAYED ON (which was non-fiction). The more I read, the more I began to really worry about a dear cousin. Unfortunately, he DID ultimately get that diagnosis and succumbed to the illness. Of course, the novel is about more than just AIDS, but that's what grabbed me right away. People need to remember...

And the writing is excellent.

[Kelly]

- What are you reading for this category?
Final Girls by Riley Sager

- What are the two timelines covered (i.e. years, hours, etc.)?
Present day and then the incident at Pine Cottage which happened in college to Quincy

[Emily]

What are you reading for this category?

Where the Crawdads Sing

What are the two timelines covered (i.e. years, hours, etc.)?

Kya's growing up years (1952-1969) and then a murder investigation + trial that takes place 1969-1970.

[Anne]

What are you reading for this category?
Island of Secrets by Patricia Wilson
What are the two timelines covered?
Present day (novel published in 2017) and 1943.

[Stacey]

For this one, I'm reading The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne, an author I came to know this year, incidentally.

There are sweeping timelines here, as the main character reflects on his past towards the end of his life : Russia in the early 20th c., Paris after WWI, London during the Blitz, Finland in the 1980s and a final return to England.