The Time Traveller's Wife-Audrey Niffenegar

Imagine if you could time travel, be in the past, the future , see things that no one has , experience things again and again but not at your will. Sounds scary? The Time Traveller’s Wife explores this extraordinary condition of a man named Henry, who could time travel due to a genetic disorder and his wife who always lives in unpredictability and fear. This science fiction romance provides a very different perspective to the concept of love, the concepts of normal life like marriage, child birth and death. The story will leave one at awe , thinking what all the girl would be coping with when she never knows if his lover, husband is ever going to return or not.


Henry, who involuntary time travels, has no clue where he is going to land and that too naked. Whenever he time travels, he loses all his clothes hence he has to always break in and get clothes and then process the whole scenario to know if he is in the future or the past. ? When he leaves, where he goes, or how long his trips will last are all beyond his control. Sounds tough, isn’t it?


Clare on the other hand has known Henry all her life. Henry starts to time travel to her since she was six years old. He originally meets her when he is older hence when he meets her for the first time at the age of 28, when their timelines converge "naturally" he is not able to recognize her but Clare has known him for years. They eventually develop a relationship and get married. But their marriage is filled with troubles. They are unable to conceive a child because the child time travels in Clare’s stomach itself and hence she goes through a lot of miscarriages due to the genetic anomaly passed on by Henry to their child. But eventually a version of Henry from the past visits Clare, they make love and this time she does not go through a miscarriage. They have a daughter named Alba who has the genetic disorder but with modifications. Henry visits her daughter in the future and gets to know a horrific truth.


All through the story, the waiting of Clare is depicted very intensely for Henry. She has always waited for him all her life. Always in prayer that Henry returns safely, if he returns ever. The waiting of a normal human being has been metaphorically evident through this very exciting and unusual love story. I will give this book an 8/10.