Then and Always: A Novel
Rachel’s life is pretty much perfect—she’s about to embrace the bright future waiting for her at a prestigious university—when a horrifying car accident changes everything. Or does it? Five years after the accident, Rachel is mopey, alone, and stuck in a dead-end job, when another accident lands her unconscious in the hospital. When she wakes up, she discovers the last five years of her life have been turned around, and she’s followed the happy path that had seemed destined. So which is the real life, and which is just fantasy? Her father appears to have beaten cancer, she’s engaged to her high-school sweetheart, and she has a great career. But all is not well—people and events are not quite as she remembers, and her confusion grows. Readers who enjoyed Liane Moriarty’s What Alice Forgot (2011) and Sophie Kinsella’s Remember Me? (2008) will like this similar tale. --Rebecca Vnuk