Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Psychology of Time Travel: A time-travelling murder mystery, the perfect holiday read
    Unavailable
    The Psychology of Time Travel: A time-travelling murder mystery, the perfect holiday read
    Unavailable
    The Psychology of Time Travel: A time-travelling murder mystery, the perfect holiday read
    Ebook459 pages5 hours

    The Psychology of Time Travel: A time-travelling murder mystery, the perfect holiday read

    By Kate Mascarenhas

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    'An astonishing debut... Breathtakingly tender and wryly understated' NEW YORK TIMES.

    'Genre-defying... Witty and inventive' GUARDIAN.

    1967.
    Four female scientists invent a time travel machine. But then one of them suffers a breakdown and puts the whole project in peril...

    2017.
    Ruby knows her Granny Bee was the scientist who went mad, but they never talk about it. Until they receive a message from the future, warning of an elderly woman's violent death...

    2018.
    Odette found the dead women at work – shot in the head, door bolted from the inside. Now she can't get her out of her mind. Who was she? And why is everyone determined to cover up her murder?

    'A page-turning temporal safari. Part murder mystery, part extrapolation of a world in which time travel has become a commercial reality, it is written with an acute sense of psychological nuance' GUARDIAN.

    'Intriguing and multi-layered' DAILY MAIL.

    'Captivating, delightful and thoroughly original' JENNIE MELAMED.

    'Troubling and inspiring, comforting and horrifying' SCIFINOW.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHead of Zeus
    Release dateAug 9, 2018
    ISBN9781786699152
    Unavailable
    The Psychology of Time Travel: A time-travelling murder mystery, the perfect holiday read
    Author

    Kate Mascarenhas

    Kate Mascarenhas is a part-Irish, part-Seychellois midlander. Since 2017, Kate has been a chartered psychologist. Before that she worked as a copywriter, a dolls' house maker, and a bookbinder. She lives in the Midlands with her husband in a small terraced house which she is slowly filling with Sindy dolls. She is the author of two other novels, The Psychology of Time Travel and The Thief on the Winged Horse.

    Related to The Psychology of Time Travel

    Alternative History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      In Search of One Last Song

      May 25, 2022

      My study is filled with books on hunting and shooting, beasts and butterflies, flowers and fungi, but mainly books on birds. I’ve never counted, but there are hundreds of them, ranging from David Bannerman’s masterly 12-volume work, The Birds of the

      2 min read

    • Article

      My Name's Giles And I'm A Gardening Addict

      Apr 5, 2023

      The wife and I have finished our second book. The previous one charted a year in the life of a theoretically incompatible married couple. In this one, we turn the lens away from ourselves to look outside the cottage window and attempt to paint an aut

      3 min read

    • Article

      MAGIC, WITCHES & WEIRDNESS

      May 18, 2023

      MAGIC, WITCHES & WEIRDNESS
      5 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      Mar 22, 2023

      Great Read
      8 min read

    • Article

      Is The Truth Still Out There?

      Dec 27, 2023

      Is The Truth Still Out There?
      7 min read

    • Article

      THE Reading room

      Aug 12, 2020

      THE Reading room
      3 min read

    • Article

      THE Reading room

      Aug 12, 2020

      THE Reading room
      3 min read

    • Article

      Grave Matters

      May 17, 2021

      They had a website. They had Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, and at this year’s Karori Karnival, they ran a stall with a “guess the number of lollies in the jar” competition. (A Mr Richard McIntosh won with a guess of 400.) All was in aid o

      2 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Dec 30, 2019

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Secret Life Of Penguins

      May 12, 2019

      The Secret Life Of Penguins
      2 min read

    • Article

      In Search Of . . .

      Feb 1, 2019

      In Search Of . . .
      7 min read

    • Article

      Cormac McCarthy Took Us Beneath the Surface

      Jun 15, 2023

      I always feel grateful that Nautilus is associated with Cormac McCarthy, who died on Tuesday at his home in Santa Fe. He was 89 years old. In 2016, the great American novelist published his first and only piece of nonfiction, “The Kekule Problem,” in

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Short History of Humanity

      May 30, 2022

      A New History of Old Europe By Johannes Krause, Thomas Trappe (Caroline Waight – translator) ISBN: 978-0593229422 Penguin Random House (2021) – $27.00 www.penguinrandomhouse.com Every one of us carries the history of our species in our genes. Armed w

      6 min read

    • Article

      Necrolog

      Feb 25, 2021

      Necrolog
      4 min read

    • Article

      Underwater Music

      Jul 1, 2020

      Underwater Music
      7 min read

    • Article

      Magpie Myth And Magic

      Jul 23, 2020

      Magpie Myth And Magic
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Silent Witness

      Jun 14, 2023

      The Silent Witness
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Silent Witness

      Jun 14, 2023

      The Silent Witness
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Queen Bee

      Mar 2, 2022

      The Queen Bee
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Unlikely Lasses

      Sep 28, 2022

      The Unlikely Lasses
      6 min read

    • Article

      Marked with SILVER

      Jan 17, 2024

      Marked with SILVER
      12 min read

    • Article

      These Bad Things

      Dec 23, 2019

      These Bad Things
      9 min read

    • Article

      Just A Song At Twilight

      Apr 13, 2022

      IT dawned on me too, in the toilets of The Gallery pub on Lupus Street, that if I didn’t hear a nightingale, a turtledove or a capercaillie soon, I probably never would.’ This type of random epiphany probably occurs to most people, although few of us

      5 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Dec 7, 2022

      Book Club
      4 min read

    • Article

      MIRA On The Ice

      Jan 1, 2024

      MIRA On The Ice
      6 min read

    Reviews for The Psychology of Time Travel

    3.5/5

    181 ratings23 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      I've had The Psychology of Time Travel on my wishlist since reviews of it started appearing on blogs a while ago. A time travel story populated almost exclusively with women, and it's a mystery to boot? Yes please!Thankfully, the novel delivers on its intriguing premise in spades. The story begins with the four pioneers of time travel making their discovery in the 1960s, but only three go on to reap the rewards of their work. In the present day, a body is found in a museum. The rest of the novel unravels the connections between the two events while exploring the effects of time travel on the mind (and heart) and portraying love that can literally transcend time.I don't want to reveal too much more, but this book had me gripped from the beginning. The author has a refreshingly simple (but not dumbed down) writing style and her characters are incredibly compelling and relatable. The simplistic writing might not to be everyone's taste, as it's not particularly poetic or descriptive, but I think it works fine in a book where the focus is on moving the plot along quickly.I also loved the way in which time travel develops into an industry complete with its own psychometric tests, slang and cliques.I would definitely read more from Kate Mascarenhas - hopefully there's another novel on the horizon!
    • 4/5
      The Psychology of Time Travel By Kate Mascarenhas due February 2019 Crooked Lane Its 1967. Four female scientists create the first time travel machine, each woman a pioneer in her scientific field. They begin to believe that time travel could have far greater significance to our lives than we could have imagined, and it could change how we all live.Fifty years later, time travel has become big business. Ruby Rebello becomes fascinated with her Grandmothers work in science, but no one can provide any details. Ruby finds a newspaper clipping from the future that foretells of the murder of an unidentified woman Ruby becomes convinced is her Grandmother.This engrossing speculative fiction was absolutely riveting and fantastic. The development of the time travel machine-called the Conjurers Candybox that teleports into the future; The Conclave-a group that studies the impact of time travel, gave me a new perspective on time travel. The Conclave could impact lives by making relationships seem pre-arranged when you can check in advance who your partner(s) will be and the outcome before you even knew the person. You could start to see death as an inconvenience when you know the date people will die, being sure to add the date to your calendar so you don't forget their funeral, and can leave the day free.The diversity and polyamorous characters added much perspective to the development of the Candybox as well.This is a fascinating, rich novel of intrigue and wonder. Written with a beautiful and timely prose and message this speculative fiction and murder mystery at its best. It includes a glossary that could stand alone its so fascinating and a Time Travel Conclave Battery of Psychometric Test with 10 questions to see if your a good candidate for time travel. Get This Feb 2019.Thanks to Crooked Lane and net galley for this ARC#ThePsychologyOfTimeTravel #NetGalley
    • 5/5
      Time travel is something that absolutely fascinates me. It's such a thrilling idea, being able to travel to the past or future. So, you can imagine that any book that features time travel appeals to me immensely and when I heard about The Psychology of Time Travel I was hooked straightaway. The beauty of the cover was just an added extra.The book begins in 1967 with the four pioneers: Margaret, Lucille, Grace and Barbara. They are scientists who are inventing a time machine and they're on the verge of changing the world. We don't return to 1967 after this but we do travel around the years, mainly with Ruby, Barbara's granddaughter, and Odette, a young woman who discovers something that changes her life.There are some wonderful characters in this book. Ruby and Odette are two wonderful women, very brave and determined. But I also loved Barbara and Grace. Something happens to Barbara in 1967 which takes her away from her beloved time travel, but she remains the clever woman that she was. And Grace is really quite fabulous and cryptic.My particular favourite bits are where the past and future collide, where a mother can meet her grown up daughter from the future whilst thinking about what her young daughter in the present will have for tea. It's the sort of thing that has my jaw dropping as I try to process it. And then there are the parts where tears sprang into my eyes as people made contact with those they had lost. Time travel is very much a part of life in this book and yet it's not overused, not everyone does it. This makes it both unique and yet commonplace. The author has done an amazing job with this book. How she plotted it and put it all together I do not know but she's achieved something very special. I read this book with a sense of awe, for the fabulously complex plot, the villain of the piece, the heroines, and the emotions.This is a book about women, celebrating their intelligence, their astuteness. Men feature but there are few of them and they take a back seat. It's quite clear that the author intended to showcase women with this book and good on her, I say!I simply cannot do justice to this book in my review. All I can suggest is that you read it yourself. There's a mystery surrounding a death at the heart of it and lots and lots of time travel. What more could you possibly want?
    • 4/5
      4 stars

      Time travel is a pretty ambitious choice for a debut novel. I went into this determined not to nit pick the logic and for the most part succeeded, but this was not the best take on time travel out there (not even close), even though I appreciate the author's effort.

      - The writing was decent
      - The characters were believable
      - The mystery kept me invested, even though it didn't exactly have me on the edge of my seat
      - I usually dislike non-linear narratives, but if it's ever justified, it's in a time-travel novel
      - Some of the sub-plots felt unnecessary

      Four stars feels a bit generous, but in the end I did finish this in one go, and while I doubt I'll ever re-read this book, I also don't regret it. I'll be interested in Mascarenhas' future work, because for a debut this was more than sufficient.
    • 5/5
      Rating: 4.5* of fiveThe Publisher Says: In 1967, four female scientists worked together to build the world’s first time machine. But just as they are about to debut their creation, one of them suffers a breakdown, putting the whole project—and future of time travel—in jeopardy. To protect their invention, one member is exiled from the team—erasing her contributions from history.Fifty years later, time travel is a big business. Twenty-something Ruby Rebello knows her beloved grandmother, Granny Bee, was one of the pioneers, though no one will tell her more. But when Bee receives a mysterious newspaper clipping from the future reporting the murder of an unidentified woman, Ruby becomes obsessed: could it be Bee? Who would want her dead? And most importantly of all: can her murder be stopped?Traversing the decades and told from alternating perspectives, The Psychology of Time Travel introduces a fabulous new voice in fiction and a new must-read for fans of speculative fiction and women’s fiction alike.THE PUBLISHER APPROVED A DRC OF THIS TITLE VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.My Review: Okay. This is hard. I can't explain why I didn't give this fascinating, layered, reality-twisting novel of ideas less than five full stars without spoilering the hell out of the ending.Let me approach this from the side. I remember a few details from the past, when there was one digit in my age. I don't claim, at this late date, that they are factual and accurate; way too much time has passed, way too many things look completely different to my grandfatherly self than they *could* have to my kid self. So is that The Past, my version of the past, a fantastical creation of my imagination, some combination of these (and other) angles of view? Is something new created, something old altered, is there any way imaginable that this paradox could be resolved with technological time travel? Or would that just make things a lot worse?Reader, this novel does not answer those questions. It does not approach your experience of its story universe from the position of *giving* you answers; it demands of you that you spend significant mental energy creating answers for yourself, using the story's elements (note I did not call them facts) to sort out who actually intended to be good and create happiness for the greatest number of souls.The answer is not the one you expect it to be. Or it wasn't the one I expected it to be. So I think you're likely to be led down the strange and winding thread of the screw bolting the monster's head to their body, directly into a concrete slab, and left there to wonder just what exactly happened while you thought you were reading a fun little entertainment about women empowering themselves in the world of 1967.And you'll like it.
    • 3/5
      I wanted this to be so much more. Characters were mostly thin. Jumped around between too many POVs. Never succeeded in creating a compelling setting. The effects of time travel on the world were too superficial.
    • 3/5
      Pandemic read. I like the premise, but, perhaps it was that my world is a little disjointed right now, but I kept being distracted or losing threads. Will retry this book later.
    • 4/5
      An interesting accumulation of women characters for whom the men are quite the peripherals, the most pointless time travel I've yet encountered, but well employed, displayed with a sprightly moving narrative. I'd be a bit inclined to add a bit more than 3.5 stars, but not quite a 4.
    • 4/5
      Interesting story that puts a series of interesting and driven women at the forefront. I enjoyed the speculation on how time travel would impact on elements of everyday life like tax laws – people declaring their income during low tax regimes – employment laws, or children’s toys.
    • 1/5
      There were so many holes and assumptions in the story, I gave up after about 30% of this book.
    • 5/5
      This is an amazingly twisty turny story, and probably would have been even without the time travel element. There are amazing characters, mind-boggling world building (including, but in no way limited to how it might have been that four women scientists might have actually created a time machine in the UK in the 1960s), and a fabulous plot that romps along. There are red herrings, and then things that look like they might be red herrings and/or signposts to the plot, and at least one clue that might have been obvious but I missed entirely. The author has done a lot of thinking about the implications of time travel, with respect to how people might lead their lives, how law might work, and the kind of secret society that is generated when a small number of people have access to something that the rest of the society may or may not ever interact with. I will say that while the loose ends of the plot are relatively well tidied up, there are some bits that obviously the author knew what was going on but managed to bury the details. To the point that I'm not entirely sure [spoiler] about one crucial point of the story. [[spoiler: whether the person who thinks that they killed the woman in the basement is actually the murderer. There are enough hidden accessories who know what happened and had access to time travel for the 'murder weapon' to have been removed, modified, and returned]
    • 4/5
      The year is 1967 and four women are about to achieve worldwide fame for being the first to reveal their invention to the world; a Time Machine. As the stand in front of the live television audience and demonstrate the machine, as they step out, one of the four, Barbara Hereford has a breakdown and is rushed away from the spotlight for medical attention.

      Fifty-one years later and the time machines are run by the what is known as the Conclave still headed up by Margaret. The technology is now safe to use, and there have been various spin-offs, including a child’s toy called the candy box that could project the small object placed inside to a few minutes in the future. Odette is new to volunteering at the toy museum and has been asked to open up, but when she opens the door there is a strong smell of sulphur. Following the scent, she ends up in the basement and traces the smell to a locked cupboard. Unlocking it and opening it a body of a woman falls out that is bleeding profusely from gunshot wounds. More shocking is the fact that the inquest into her death fails to find any evidence or answer any of her questions.

      Ruby knows that her grandmother, Barbara, was a pioneer on the time machines, but after her breakdown, she has never really spoken about it and it was something that was strongly enforced by Ruby’s mother. However, when they receive a message from the future about the mysterious death of an elderly lady it is time for Barbra to open up about the past and maybe she can help solve the mystery of the murder across time.

      Time travel books are notoriously difficult to get right and in the pretty accomplished debut novel from Mascarenhas, she manages it pretty well. The story zips along pretty quickly as the story is told from different perspectives by the large number of characters in the book. The narrative jumps from the past to the future as each piece of the mystery is revealed. It is a really enjoyable story and if you liked the Fifteen Lives of Harry August then you should really give this a go too.
    • 3/5
      The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas is a unique story. I admit that I am drawn to books regarding time travel (I am a big Doctor Who fan) and was eager to read The Psychology of Time Travel. The story is told from alternate POVs as well as three different timelines. There is the past, present and future. Then there are the four female inventors (Barbara Hereford, Margaret Norton, Lucille Waters, and Grace Taylor) plus Ruby Rebello and Odette Sophola. The people can run into their past, present or future selves along the way. The Psychology of Time Travel is a very confusing story (that’s putting it mildly). I kept hoping that it would become clearer the further I moved into the story, but this was not the case. It was interesting, though, to see how time travel affected each person. The chapters were short and choppy. There were romantic entanglements (of course), but there was one that was just plain strange (really hard to wrap my head around). I was never able to get involved in the story or get to know the characters (thanks to the short chapters). I did like the mystery that was woven into the story. It was the one thing that kept me reading The Psychology of Time Travel. I wanted to know who committed the crime and how it was accomplished. The author certainly has an active imagination. While The Psychology of Time Travel was not for me, many others just loved this innovative tale. I suggest you obtain a sample to see if this book is the right fit for you. The story does contain foul language and strange intimate situations. There is a time travel dictionary of terms at the end of the book. The Psychology of Time Travel is unique novel with time travel, a strange slaying, plentiful points-of-view, convoluted conundrums, and rare romantic relationships.
    • 5/5
      I do love a twisty time plot (as evidenced by my love of Doctor Who) and this has that, a murder mystery, and a full cast of women (and queer ladies) as well. Thoroughly enjoyed this truly original story.
    • 4/5
      In 1967 Britain, four women discovered the means for time travel but as the team went public one of the team members suffered a breakdown. In order to save their discovery, she is exiled from the group. Fifty years later, time travel is big business. Ruby Rebello knows that her Granny Bee played a role in the initial research into time travel but it's not something her family talks about. But when Bee receives a news clipping outlining a mysterious death a few months in the future, Ruby becomes obsessed. Who is the dead person? Could it possibly be Bee? And why did someone send the announcement in the first place?I really enjoyed this time travel novel. Mascarenhas creates a broad cast of characters, almost entirely female, and explores just what time travel would mean for both society as well as the psyches of the individuals who participate in it. At the same time, she crafts a fascinating mystery full of twists, turns, and red herrings. I never once knew what was coming and never got farther ahead of the author than she really wanted me. Plus all of the characters are fascinating even when they're not sympathetic. Recommended.
    • 3/5
      This book is a massive cock block in which fascinating ideas are introduced, waved at, and then abandoned. Frex: in the future people believe in predestination again- how did that change happen, was it related to time travel, what does it mean for society? Or hey, time travel abruptly stops in the year 2267- why? what does it mean?

      Despite the title, there really isn't much exploration of how time travel changes people. We're told repeatedly that time travel makes people indifferent to death, but we're also shown that the time travel organisation deliberately inculcates a culture of death-indifference, so... The only other psychological effect of time travel we see is potential triggering of mania due to "jetlag" (being exposed to too much sunlight by repeatedly traveling to daytimes and skipping night).

      That these are the only psychological effects the book explores is baffling. In this book's version of time-travel it's impossible to change anything about the future, something every single character (and society as a whole!) seems to take completely in stride. Unless the moral is meant to be "the psychology of time travel is exactly the same as the psychology of non-time-travel because people are people," I'm just lost.
    • 2/5
      Kate Mascarenhas has found an interesting approach to writing a time travel novel. As the title indicates, she's exploring what happens to a time traveler's brain and to their personality when they move through time. In her world, the answer is: nothing good. Among other mental infirmities that can develop, frequent time travel can cause people to become desensitized to and crass about death. This can be a major problem, and how to tackle that problem and make time travel psychologically safe is an interesting entre into the genre.Unfortunately, Mascarenhas has bitten off a bit more than she can chew, in what is clearly a debut novel. She's wrapped this question in a mystery and layered it with an enormous bureaucracy that governs everything related to time travel, travelers (sometimes the same person) coming from both directions, and a full cast of non-time travelers. The mystery gets sort of forgotton for a while in the middle while we deal with the characters, and by the time we get back to it, I don't really care about the who's or why's of it. And I couldn't even keep track of the characters, and all their various timely incarnations, let alone care much about any of them.Still, there are hints of Mascarenhas's strengths as a writer. Some of the are quite well-written, and parts of the action really hum along. If she chooses to write another book, perhaps she'll be able to mellow out a little and let her talents shine through.
    • 5/5
      The combination of time travel, a locked-room mystery and interesting characters works on several levels in Mascarenhas' novel, which also deals with psychology and communal relationships. Can't say much more without spoiling the fun--this reads like an entertainment but deals with questions like fear of death, trauma, ostracism, racism and more.
    • 3/5
      I feel like the editor did a disservice to Kate Mascarenhas, because while The Psychology of Time Travel may not be the most ground-breaking or exciting book ever, it has the bones of a thoroughly enjoyable story and I liked the way Mascarenhas explores some of the downfalls of a closed-loop (ie: no alternate dimensions) time travel.Unfortuantely, the editor dropped the ball and there are two things that should have been picked up on before this book was put into print. The first is more of a copyeditor thing that is hopefully fixed in future editions: the dialogue layouts are awful. Where you might typically expect a single character's dialogue in a single paragraph rather than two characters' words meeting in a paragraph with no indication that the speaker has changed...well, it's hit or miss if a dialogue paragraph changes speakers midway through or not, and there were several instances where a single person's dialogue was split in the middle of the sentence. I wouldn't nitpick about the typesetting and so forth if it were stylistic, but this error made it genuinely difficult to understand the text.Secondly, the timeline itself in the book suffers from two plotholes or perhaps foreshadowing problems. For a time-travel story that does not allow variations in time and in fact hinges on timelines being immutable, this was to me an error the editor should have caught. The first is that one of the POV characters is explicitly said to have been born in 1985, but later her mother is explicitly said to be born around 1973 (maybe 1972). This is left hanging throughout the book, no explanation for why a twelve-year-old was pregnant or how it happened. There could be so many reasons for this, including that mom wasn't actually pregnant at twelve, and I spent most of the book waiting for a big reveal or explanation that never came. Similarly, in the first expository pages about time travel, it's said that no one ever made it past a particular date several hundred years old. Yet later on in the book, multiple times even!, dates beyond that original cut-off are referenced as having been visited by time travelers. But, again, after being set up as possibly a plot point or foreshadow moment, it's never mentioned again. Both of these things could have been easily solved by just adjusting the dates so the questions don't arise.But despite these two big flaws, I found myself enjoying the bit of mystery in this book. The main storyline is told in multiple POVs where each POV takes place at a different time, so Ruby is learning about a strange death to happen in 6 months in parallel with Odette discovering the body and Margaret, Grace, Barbara, and Lucille are developing the time travel system. Mascarenhas's focus is on the world-building and what this concept of time travel could mean, with a narcissistic leader who casts aside those who don't fit her plans.In this time travel, everything happens at once for the time travelers and they are able to meet and interact with their older/younger selves. What does it mean to be so dissociated with your origin, or to see who you are to become or what you were? Everything is fated when there is no sense of personal choice: what will happen is what has happened, and for time travelers, no one is truly dead.Some of the mental health things in the book felt a bit off to me, perhaps a little too by-the-book and negatively depicted, but a lot of it comes from a villain who thinks mental illness is a moral failing.I was pleasantly surprised that one of the POV characters is a lesbian who ends up in a happy relationship. I did not expect it from the cover blurb, and I had not heard of the book before seeing it at the library. Another POV character is from Seychelles, similar to the author. I appreciated for both Ruby and Odette, their identities as minorities affected some of their decisions and relationships, but weren't driving aspects of the plot. (It feels a bit silly in 2019 to praise novels for presenting minority identities as just ordinary people, but it's still rare for me to see it without the book jacket pointedly marking those identities.)Overall, The Psychology of Time Travel is an interesting world-building excersize with the bones of a good story, but it feels like a first novel that could use some polish, and I think a stronger editorial hand could have helped a lot.
    • 2/5
      Turns out that time-travel was invented by four young women in the 1960s: Margaret, Grace, Lucille, and Barbara. But Barbara has a breakdown on national television the day that they announce their discovery and is ostracised by the rest of the group. Margaret, assisted by Grace and Lucille, goes on to found an institute known as the Conclave that controls all time travel from the 1960s to several hundred years into the future. But Margaret's rule isn't exactly benign ..In the present day Ruby is talking to her eighty-two year old grandmother Barbara about her days as a time traveller, when someone secretly delivers a notice of an inquest of an unidentified woman in her eighties several months into the future. It obviously could only have been sent by a time traveller and Ruby is determined to find out who is the woman who has died. Could it be her grandmother? Meanwhile Odette, the student who has found the body, becomes more and more obsessed in trying to find out exactly what has happened...There were ideas here which could have made a very successful book, but I found it very disappointing. Too many characters, many of whom were pretty indistinguishable, led to a lot of confusion. The fact that not of the characters were very appealing, or even very interesting didn't help. But the main problem was that I have never read anything where the actual process of time travel seemed so boring. There was a lot of talk of how exhilarating and addictive it was, and Barbara spends her entire life trying to be accepted back into the Conclave, but it all just seemed so dull. Most of the time travellers seems to spend their time visiting their own earlier or future selves with absolutely no interest in the times through which they were travelling. It was just so narcissistic. I only finished the book in the hope that the author might pull an interesting ending out of the hat which would made the waiting worthwhile. But she didn't. So although this has had good reviews elsewhere I really can't recommend it.
    • 3/5
      Many thanks to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Kate Mascarenhas for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.In Kate Mascarenhas fantasy novel, four women join forces in 1967 to develop the technology of time travel. Mascarenhas has created an intricate world where time travel becomes its own industry. Her rules have been meticulously thought out and whether it is because of her scientific research, her understanding of the corporate world and her grasp of human nature to invent such a complex but completely believable world. I’ll let you in on some of the more unique details in this story, without divulging any spoilers that might ruin the mystery. You can’t travel further back in time then when the machine was invented. So smart, because it limits what would be endless possibilities and takes away the pesky issue of having to do a bunch of historical research. She has worked out a whole fuel plot point, that again makes perfect sense, even bringing in the idea of re-using fuel. In this world, you can not only meet yourself, but can have a number of different versions of yourself running around in any one timeline. How travelling through time can change you as a person, you ability to empathize and how it messes up your whole concept of death. You can know what happens in the future, but can never change events. The military, just as in real life, gets involved right away in the technology. Time travel becomes a huge industry, almost a world unto itself, where it has its own money and even its own justice system. I could go on and on. This attention to detail makes this world so believable and keeps your interest as a reader. You just want to keep discovering more about this world. Then on top of this we have the mystery. Barbara, one of the original four, has a reaction of sorts to time travelling. Unfortunately, this melt down happens on the day they announce their discovery to the press and Margaret feels she has embarrassed them. Margaret convinces the other girls to kick Barbara out and they cut off communication with her. Barbara never really recovers from being ostracized and after her hospitalization keeps trying to get back in the group. Eventually she marries and her daughter has a daughter, Ruby. Now it starts to get complicated. Let’s just leave it that there is a puzzle of a murder that happens in a locked room. Barbara makes a new discovery and thinks this is her chance to finally be able to time travel once more. Ruby gets a message that Barbara will die soon and she can’t forgive the group for being so cruel to her grandmother. All of these stories, moving together, have a way of working themselves to an exciting conclusion.For the most part, I really enjoyed this novel. Kate Mascarenhas imagination and attention to detail really are to be marvelled at. So much work went into creating such a complex story that is also heartfelt. You really are rooting for Barbara and Ruby. You can feel how twisted Margaret gets over the years. My only drawback is, with so many different moving parts and storylines, things did get bogged down for me and I started to lost interest in the middle parts. It was bound to happen. You are jumping from character to character and for a long time you don’t see the connection between them. You are also jumping from one decade to another to another. Nothing that would make me put the book down. Once I muddled through, it was worth getting to the end. There were lots of surprising bits and psychological twists that I never expected. Most importantly, the heart of the story didn’t get lost in the complex world building. I was so excited when I read the blurb about time travelling women scientists and I wasn’t disappointed.
    • 4/5
      A rare gem from Kindle Unlimited! Nothing like a twisty time travel story to start the new reading year. I'm not entirely sure I could describe what was going on without another run through - 'Odette had missed the start of the story. She would wait for the story to begin again' - but I was entirely caught up in the characters and their intertwined lives while reading. Margaret, Barbara, Lucille and Grace - there are a barrage of names and personalities to get to know in the first few chapters - are pioneers of time travel in the 1960s. Their success goes to Margaret and Barbara's heads in very different ways, so by the present day, when time is no longer linear and people are interacting with multiple copies of themselves, Bee's granddaughter Ruby and a young graduate called Odette are also drawn into the Conclave, HQ of time travel. There is a plot - a sort of locked room murder mystery - but Kate Mascarenhas could tell the same story without the time travel and the Agatha Christie-esque death, and the lives of these women would still make a great read. Bee, kicked out of the pioneering project she started with her friends, her daughter Dinah and granddaughter Ruby, who is having an affair with Ginger, but then meets Grace, the younger version of another pioneer. Finally there is Odette, who finds a body on her first day at work and joins forces with a journalist to find the answers to questions nobody else wants to ask. Amazing characters and world building - Mascarenhas treats time travel like the most ordinary discovery in the world, adding a glossary and psych tests for future travellers at the back of the book, but the effects are daunting. One to think about - and read again!
    • 4/5
      Murder mystery, time travel, groundbreaking female scientists—I am 120% on board with this book.The beginning dragged a bit—too much announcing that things had happened rather than letting the story unfold. Luckily that faded once the mystery got going and the timelines more convoluted. It's a good and twisty story, with interesting questions about how you might feel about death when you're constantly visiting past and future selves and some brutal answers about what the psychology of time travel actually might amount to. Plus, queer characters.