Sophie Cousens’s Favorite Time-Traveling Books
By Sophie Cousens
My latest novel, The Good Part (published on November 7), is about Lucy who is tired of struggling through her twenties. She has no money, lives with flatmates who don’t do their share, has zero responsibility at work, and has been on bad date after bad date. One night, after a particularly terrible day, she stumbles upon a wishing machine and finds herself wishing she could skip to the good part of her life. When she wakes the next morning to a handsome man, a ring on her finger, a high-powered job, and two storybook-perfect children, Lucy can’t believe this is real—especially when she looks in the mirror and staring back is her own fortysomething face. Has she really skipped ahead like she’s always wanted, or has she simply forgotten a huge chunk of her life?
Unlike my previous books, this story contains elements of magical realism and time travel. I have always been a huge fan of these sorts of stories and grew up on films such as Big, 13 Going on 30, and Freaky Friday. In many ways, the jump from young adult to middle-aged mother feels as huge a shift as child to adult, and it got me thinking, what would 26 Going on 42 feel like? Time travel has fascinated us for as long as humans have been able to get their heads around the concept, and literature is full of examples that use the device to explore some of life’s fundamental questions. What does love look like, how do you live a fulfilling life, and am I doing it right?
Some of my favorite novels have tackled these topics—check out my list of time-traveling must-reads.
Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale
Cassandra leads an ordered life, but when she discovers she can turn back time and change things, she sets out to fix her problems, but finds she might be focused on fixing all the wrong things. I loved Cassandra, the heroine of this novel. The author, Holly, has spoken openly about being diagnosed as autistic, and though it’s never explicitly stated, Cassandra reads as someone neurodivergent. Her inner monologue is so original and witty and reminded me of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.
Maybe Next Time by Cesca Major
A poignant novel about Emma, a stressed-out working mother who loses her husband in an accident. The next day she wakes to find herself in a Groundhog Day-style time loop. She must relive the same day over and over while keeping her family and work life from imploding as she attempts to change the course of events and spare her husband from dying. This is such a moving story about the challenges of modern life and trying to “have it all.” It felt a little like It’s a Wonderful Life crossed with One Day.
Sea of Tranquillity by Emily St. John Mandel
This literary, science-fiction-themed book takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space. I adored Station Eleven by the same author, and this novel felt similarly thought-provoking and ambitious. The time travel element slightly hurt my brain, as it explores how time travelers affect their timelines, but I enjoy these kinds of aches.
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
In some ways this story is the opposite of The Good Part, as we follow a forty year old called Alice travel back in time to become her sixteen-year-old self. In this complex, multi-layered tale, we see the effects of small decisions on Alice’s later life. I loved the themes explored here about aging, especially in relation to an aging parent. Alice’s relationship to her father, seeing his health deteriorate and yet feeling helpless to change it, felt incredibly relatable and moving.
In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
Like my debut This Time Next Year, Serle’s In Five Years was a Good Morning America Book Club pick. It tells the story of Dannie, an ambitious New York lawyer, who wakes up one day to find herself five years in the future in a very different life with a man who isn’t her fiancé. She only spends an hour in the future to then wake again in her own home, but she can’t shake the feeling that this was more than just a dream. I love this kind of book, because you never quite know where it’s going, or what the ending is going to be, so you are left guessing until the last chapter.
Shoot the Moon by Isa Arsén
One of my most anticipated reads of 2023, this is the story of Annie, an isolated physics graduate who feels a pull toward space and finds herself working at NASA during the Apollo 11 mission. Billed as “affecting, immersive, and kaleidoscopic,” Shoot the Moon tells the story of one life at multiple points in time. It’s also been described as a mashup of Lessons in Chemistry and The Time Traveler's Wife, and if there’s ever been a description that makes me want to race to read something immediately, it would be this.
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Ursula is born in 1910 but dies before she can take her first breath. On the same night, Ursula is born, and this time the doctor arrives in time to help with the birth. The story sees Ursula die numerous times, but then her life restarts and something shifts: now she has a sixth sense. It’s a fascinating novel about how small decisions and traumatic events can affect our lives, and even our personalities. A modern classic.
Sophie Cousens writes romantic comedies. Before becoming a full time writer, she worked as a TV producer in London for more than twelve years, working on shows such as The Graham Norton Show, Russell Howard's Good News and Big Brother.
Sophie currently lives in Jersey in the UK where she now writes full time. She lives with her husband Tim and has two small children who keep her occupied with important questions such as 'but did Cinderella have a toothbrush?' and 'do giraffe's know they have really long necks?' She yearns for a time when she will be able to add a miniature dachshund to the party.