Time Travelers

Thursday Next in the Well of Lost Plots: A Novel by Jasper Fforde
Anyone who thinks there's really nothing new in fiction hasn't been reading Fforde's wildly inventive series. Thursday Next is a detective who inhabits a fantasy-world Britain in which literature is very much alive – so alive, in fact, that it takes a dedicated machinery of justice to keep the plots in order and the characters in place. After rescuing a kidnapped Jane Eyre in The Eyre Affair (2002) and battling an evil multinational corporation seeking to exploit the world of fiction in Lost in a Good Book (2003), Next has beaten a strategic retreat into BookWorld, where as part of the Character Exchange Program, she hides out in an unpublished, by-the-numbers police procedural.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Passionately in love, Clare and Henry vow to hold onto each other and their marriage as they struggle with the effects of Chrono-Displacement Disorder, a condition that casts Henry involuntarily into the world of time travel. This highly original debut novel was selected by the Today Show Bookclub.

A Shortcut in Time by Charles Dickinson
Surprised when a hasty dash down a familiar walk in Euclid, Illinois, sends him back in time 15 minutes, artist Josh Winkler becomes increasingly alarmed at the appearance of a lost young woman who claims to be from 1908.

Timeline by Michael Crichton
Get ready for a roller-coaster ride back into the past with this one! This fast-paced, action-packed thriller combines science fiction, fantasy and historical fiction as a group of young scientists travel back in time to 14th-century France to rescue their lost professor. Before they can even think about returning to the present, though, the group must find a way to stay alive amidst the violence and brutality of medieval Europe.

Time and Time Again by Dennis Danvers
Marion Mead, a modern-day historical novelist, discovers a mysterious link to the past when she places an ad asking for research help on a family who lived in Virginia during the 1760s. Not only does she fall in love with the man who replies, but she and he may have been romantically involved in a past life. Will they be able to right the wrongs that past events have set into motion?

The Other Adonis by Frank Deford
In this lighthearted romantic thriller, a man and a woman who feel a powerful connection to Rubens' painting Venus and Adonis visit a hypnotist to see if they could be the reincarnated versions of the two lovers. The plot shifts back and forth between present-day New York City and the 17th century, as the pair – and the hypnotist – struggle to come to terms with what history has meant to them.

Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine
In the 12th century, Matilda de Braose, the real-life Lady of Hay, was a strong-willed, sharp-tongued noblewoman who made the mistake of taunting King John about his murdered nephew – and paid for it with her life. In 1980s England, college student Jo Clifford submits to hypnosis as part of a research project and finds herself experiencing Matilda's thoughts. Can she break free of the spell soon enough to escape Matilda's tragic fate? Fans of historical romantic suspense will also enjoy Erskine's other timeslip novels, in particular Kingdom of Shadows.

Outlander: A Novel by Diana Gabaldon
In Outlander , the first of a series, Claire Randall, a WWII-era nurse, travels back in time to Scotland at the time of the Jacobite Rebellion. Falling in love with Jamie Fraser, a young soldier, Claire must soon decide whether to return to her own time (and husband) or remain in the past with Jamie. Many readers of historical and romance fiction are already familiar with Gabaldon's epic time-travel novels, which effectively combine an authentic historical setting, memorable characters and a passionate love story.

Knight Errant by Rodrigo García y Robertson
After Robyn Stafford travels to London to surprise her English lover on his birthday, only to find out that he's married (surprise!), she finds herself the unexpected victim of a mysterious displacing spell. Thrust back in time to the Wars of the Roses, she struggles to survive amidst the politics of the time. Her two goals: to find her knight in shining armor, the Earl of March, and hope that she can eventually return to the present. This is a fun, escapist read with fascinating period detail.

Ferney by James Long
An 83-year-old man named Ferney Miller has been searching for his wife ever since she disappeared without a trace almost 60 years earlier. When a married couple unexpectedly pays a visit to his home, he believes that he might have found her again, reincarnated into the body of the young wife – who bears the name of Ferney's lost love. This novel, which theorizes that people's past lives can affect them in the present, is a gentle exploration of the power of love – but with an unexpected twist at the end.

Time Out of Mind by John R. Maxim
Jonathan Corbin, a present day New Yorker, becomes lost in the past of a hundred years ago every time it snows. He views this earlier age through the eyes of his ancestor, Tilden Beckwith, who hobnobs with the likes of J.P. Morgan and Teddy Roosevelt. Back in the present, someone is trying to kill him for the knowledge he might possess. This is an exciting historical thriller with a touch of romance.

By Blood Possessed by Elena Santangelo
Pat Montella, ready to pack up and move away from her dead-end job, does just that when she's informed in a letter that she may be the recipient of a large estate in rural Virginia. To claim her newfound wealth, she must pay a visit to her benefactor: the quirky and delightful Miss Magnolia Shelby, age 91. Upon arrival, Pat finds herself seeing visions of Virginia's Civil War past. While she tries to discover her own connection to these events, in the present someone's willing to kill her for it.

Green Darkness by Anya Seton
Celia, a young Englishwoman visiting a country estate with her new husband, becomes strangely affected by the story of an earlier Celia, who had tragically fallen in love with a Benedictine monk during Tudor times. Unless the present-day Celia can resolve the mystery left by her predecessor, she might not survive. Readers who enjoy this classic may want to check out Seton's other timeslip novel, Smouldering Fires (1975), set in early Acadia and in the present day.

Household Gods by Tarr, Judith, and Harry Turtledove
Nicole Gunther-Perrin, a divorced single mother working as an attorney in L.A., is frustrated with the difficulties of modern life. On the spur of the moment, she calls out to the gods of two Roman statues by her bedside to come and rescue her. The next morning, she wakes up in the body of Umma, a tavernkeeper living in a town on the edge of the Roman Empire in 170 A.D. The colorful details of everyday life in ancient times are plentiful and absorbing, particularly as viewed through the eyes of a modern woman.

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Kivrin, a young student at Oxford University in the year 2048, intends to go back in time to the Middle Ages for research purposes. Due to a colleague's error, she mistakenly arrives not in 1320 but in 1348, the year when the Black Death reached Oxford. Even worse, she cannot get back home. Thus begins an intense, heartbreaking story, appealing to fans of both historical fiction and science fiction, which vividly demonstrates that human nature is the same regardless of the era. If you enjoy historical detail mixed in with your science fiction, you'll also want to read Passage (2001), in which a psychologist investigating near-death experiences imagines herself aboard the Titanic.