Once Again By Catherine Wallace Hope
‘Once Again’ is the latest book by Catherine Wallace Hope.
What if you had the chance to save someone you lost? Isolated in the aftermath of tragedy, Erin Fullarton has felt barely alive since the loss of her young daughter, Korrie. She tries to mark the milestones her therapist suggests – like this day: the five hundredth – but moving through grief is like swimming against a dark current. Her estranged husband, Zac, a brilliant astrophysicist, seems to be coping better. Lost in his work, he’s perfecting his model of a stunning cosmological phenomenon, one he predicts will occur on this same day – an event so rare, it keeps him from being able to acknowledge this milestone alongside Erin. But when Erin receives a phone call from her daughter’s school, the same call she received five hundred days earlier when Korrie was still alive, Erin realises something is happening. Or happening again. Struggling to understand the sudden shifts in time, she pieces together that the phenomenon Zac is tracking may have presented her with the gift of a lifetime: the chance to save her daughter. As Erin is swept through time, she’s unable to reach Zac or convince the authorities of what is happening. Forced to find the answer on her own, Erin must battle to keep the past from repeating – or risk losing her daughter for good.
The story is primarily seen through the narrative of parents Erin and Zac on the anniversary of their little girl’s death. Erin has never recovered from Korrie’s tragic death and always felt responsible for it, whereas Zac has tried to move on even though he is also heartbroken.
But on this particular anniversary, Zac is performing an extremely important experiment in his job based on the black hole and time travel and the consequences of this experiment result in Erin able to travel back in time and potentially change time so that it doesn’t result in Korrie’s death.
The story flows back and forth in time as Erin deals with her grief as well the hope and disbelief that radiates from her as she has been given the gift of bringing her daughter back.
The different narratives give an interesting insight into the story, from the policeman, the abductor and the parents and how that particular day impacted in their lives in not only a personal but a professional level.
This is an emotive story that triggers many emotions throughout the story, from the bare grief from Erin and the anger when she is able to confront her daughter’s kidnapper. The story is a suspenseful story that keeps the reader on their toes, as Erin has to race against time to prevent her current reality from happening but is regularly interrupted when time keeps changing.
I enjoyed this story, it’s an original concept that really pulls the reader in. I will admit that I sometimes got a bit confused with the science and physics but managed to get there in the end.
A chilling and gripping story of hope and grief, ‘Once Again’ is a strong debut based on a deep exploration of time and second chances.
You can buy ‘Once Again’ from Amazon.
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