What Happens When You Share a Love That Defies Time Itself?

They met when Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six

Photo Credit: Sandi Parsons

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger skips through time with reckless abandon, as does the narrative.

Confused? Don’t be. It’s a messy book that some readers struggle to comprehend. But there’s a simple reason for that — time travel, like life, is messy. And you can’t convey the essence of time travel with a neat linear narrative.

Henry has Chrono-Displacement Disorder. Periodically, he shifts in time, often triggered by moments of stress. Henry arrives in another time naked, a situation that’s often problematic, sometimes comical. An older Henry teaches a younger Henry how to survive in the minefield that is his life. (This is perhaps the concept of time travel that I love the most. Oh, the things now-Sandi could tell past-Sandi!!)

The one thing that grounds Henry is Clare. She is his rock.

Clare first meets Henry when she was six — Henry was thirty-six, a much older version of himself. Henry first meets Clare when he is twenty-eight, and she is twenty. Although Clare has met older versions of Henry, this is the first time they are together in the present.

Still confused? There’s a reason the 10th Doctor describes time as “a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff.”

But this isn’t a time-traveling tale so much as it’s a love story. It’s a story of how two people navigate an often unpredictable world. The things that could have torn them apart only strengthened their bond. It’s a story about love conquering all — even time.

As a librarian, I’m often asked what my favorite book is. My reply is usually, “Just one book. Impossible. Give me a genre or an author.” For a genre, I can narrow it down to a series (or two) and often, for an author, to a single book.

But of all my favorites, The Time Traveler’s Wife stands alone. It’s not part of a series, nor is Niffenegger one of my favorite authors.

I’ve never been able to forget the story. It’s a book I go back to time and time again. Not content with reading the story, sometimes I listen on Audible. For me, it’s never lost the magic. Even when I think I remember what will happen next, the time shifts surprise me … seemingly happening in an unfamiliar pattern to what I remember last time I turned the pages.

It’s as close to having a single ‘favorite book’ that I’ll ever have. Perhaps it’s the time travel. Maybe it’s a romance that survives all the odds. Or even the reflection of how messy life can be.

But more likely, it’s a combination of all those elements — for when River Song turned up in Doctor Who, I instantly understood the conundrum, and couldn’t wait to see how River’s story played out.

Confession, sometimes I load up the DVD player and play the River Song episodes and skip everything else in between.

I guess I’m just a sucker for time-traveling love sagas.

Sandi Parsons is an award-winning school librarian with over 20 years experience working in educational libraries. She lives with her favorite husband and two problem puppies. She’s a sucker for romance stories with a time travel aspect.

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First published on Vocal.media

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