How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

“She clicks the top of her pen. Then clicks it again. Each one is a moment. The first click, the pause between the clicks, and the second click. The longer you live. The harder it becomes. To grab them. Each little moment as it arrives. To be living in something other than the past or the future. To be actually here."

 

HOW TO STOP TIME by Matt Haig is one of those mind bending books that I have been reading a bit at a time, partly to be able to reflect on Haig’s work and partly to savor the writing and make it last. In this novel, Tom Hazard is four hundred and thirty-nine years old, although he physically ages very slowly and in appearance seems to be in his early forties. His life story alternates back and forth from 16th century rural England where his mother is suspected of being a witch and the London of that time where he first fell in love, to present day London where he teaches school and is attracted to a fellow teacher, Camille.

Readers learn that Tom is looking for his child, Marion, who may age similarly. Plus, he has to deal with potentially being manipulated by an organization (The Albatross Society) which seeks to protect these unique people although its leader, Hendrich, seems threatening and controlling. Throughout, Tom suffers stress headaches and is unable to develop a meaningful, deep relationship with anyone for fear of endangering them. Haig is telling this story on multiple levels, and Tom’s perspective as an outsider from another time provides a vehicle for sharp commentary on current society. Here are a few of my favorite quotes (I have many):

• “You are always living within the parameters of your personality.  No expanse of time or place could change that.”
• “All we can ever be is faithful to our memories of reality, rather than the reality itself, which is something closely related, but never precisely the same thing.”
• “The progress of humanity seemed to be measured in the distance we placed between ourselves and nature.”
• “Places don’t matter to people any more. ... People are only half present where they are these days.  They always have at least one foot in the great digital nowhere.”
• “You understand quite completely that the main lesson of history is: humans don’t learn from history.”

HOW TO STOP TIME received starred reviews from Booklist (“Teens will love this irresistible, crossover work of speculative fiction”) and Publishers Weekly.

So what else have I been reading?  AS BRIGHT AS HEAVEN by award-winning author Susan Meissner.  This novel is also a time trip of sorts, taking place in 1918 Pennsylvania where members of the Bright family (Pauline and Thomas with daughters Evelyn, Maggie and Willa) deal with the loss of baby Henry by moving from Quakertown to Philadelphia, leaving behind extended family and their business of rolling cigars to live in a fine house with a bachelor uncle and learn the trade of being an undertaker. When the Spanish flu hits the city, they are forced to confront death on a large scale. 

This historical fiction novel is told from multiple perspectives and each of the Bright women shares her thoughts. With positive blurbs from novelists like Jillian Cantor and Helen Simonson, AS BRIGHT AS HEAVEN is apt to appeal to book clubs and received a starred review from Library Journal.  

Both titles appear on the February 2018 LibraryReads List.

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson.

Are you wishing for new episodes of Downton Abbey? If so, be sure to read The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson.  She wrote Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand (a personal favorite) about five years ago.  Similarly, The Summer Before the War is an introspective, relatively gentle read, but it will surprise readers as values and morals of Edwardian era England are cleverly questioned.    

Simonson sets her latest novel in Rye, Sussex during 1914 and battles the constraints of the time regarding gender, same-sex relationships, social class, and foreign refugees through the eyes of characters like:

• Beatrice Nash, young schoolteacher forced to flee a stifling family situation after her professor father’s death;
• Hugh Grange, medical student, hopeful for a Harley Street practice and marriage to his mentor’s daughter;
• Daniel Bookham, Hugh’s cousin, an aspiring poet who adores Craigmore, son of Lord North;
• Celeste, young and beautiful, but troubled, refugee from Belgium;
• Agatha Kent, Beatrice’s patron, local committee woman and planner extraordinaire
• Bettina Fothergill, wife of Rye’s mayor and Agatha’s frequent nemesis

Simonson’s caustic observations, though often subtle, are beautifully written and, again, reminiscent of the droll wit exhibited on Downton Abbey: “cheerful company is as welcome to melancholy as lemon juice on a burn” or “Cook gave Lady Emily’s footman two jars [of preserves] large enough to appear gracious but not so large as to suggest an abundant larder able to supple jars every time someone paid a compliment.”

As war builds, Simonson explores the motivations and methods to recruit soldiers, takes major characters to the front lines and describes the fighting in addition to the stratified treatment of officers and enlisted men.  Overall, The Summer Before the War is an excellently written book, full of social commentary: “’I avoid the papers altogether,’ said Daniel. ‘I am pretty sure wars would be shorter if we weren’t all so eager to read about them.’” Do read The Summer Before the War; it was recommended by Library Reads and received a starred review from Kirkus.