A Witch in Time
In 21st-century Washington DC, Helen Lambert is going through a divorce when she meets Luke Varner, a mysterious stranger who seems to know a lot about her. She begins to have dreams of a prior lifetime in which he plays a part. Helen’s dreams are so real that they feel like memories: of Juliet, a painter’s young muse in 19th-century France; of Nora, an actress on her way to stardom in 1930s Hollywood; of Sandra, a 1970s musician on the edge of breaking out. In each timeline, she meets a man whose own creative ambitions intertwine with hers, in each timeline, her skills and powers mysteriously grow, and in each one, she meets a benefactor who helps to guide her.
That benefactor is Luke, the manager of the botched curse that saved Juliet’s life. But although he is powerful, his vision is clouded by his own attachments and his attempts to intervene. And he is learning that while patterns repeat, Juliet, Nora, Sandra, and Helen are not the same woman and will not respond to circumstances – or to him – in the same way. So, this time, he is as honest as he can be, and Helen risks losing love and her life to break the curse that binds them both.
The stories build in nicely nested narratives – with the memories of each generation looping back in patterns that remind the reader of previous timelines but avoid excessive repetition. The pacing is just a bit uneven, especially in the later lives, and the narrative occasionally dwells on details that seem to be filling space until Sayers can get back to her main narrative. But on the whole, it’s a lively read, full of unique and intriguing ideas and unfolding consequences.
