Book Review: The Time Traveler's Wife By Audrey Niffenegger

   I have decided to review one of my favourite novels which somehow manages to blend two separate genres that don't usually go together; that of time travel and science fiction. Since being published back in 2004 there have been many nods to this story in various forms of media, the most obvious being in recent episodes of Doctor Who. The Girl in the fireplace, An episode first broadcast in 2006, is a virtual rewrite of the novel and the concept  is again revisited with the introduction of Amy Pond in 2010 series opener The Eleventh Hour. Homages of this nature are the greatest compliment a writer can get and is ultimately a testament to the novels success.

   The novel is an extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry who first meet when Clare is just six years old and he thirty six. They are married when Clare is twenty two and Henry thirty. "Hang on a minute, that can't be right" I hear you cry, and to be honest you're confusion is justified but it just so happens that Henry suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock re-sets itself and any given moment he will find himself flung into his past or indeed his future. This unique concept actually works in the novel's favour, and while it has the potential to be confusing strangely this is never the case. The story is told from the point of view of both Clare and Henry and it is refreshing to see the stories events from two different perspectives; The girl who has no choice but to wait and the man who is constantly time travelling. Normally when I read anything that involves time travel I find myself debating the science behind the concept, but in this case I ignored the science and simply accepted the fact that a person can be born with a condition that enables them to travel through their own life at any given moment. This book has also inspired a feature film adaption of the same name, but my advice would be to read the novel and then see the film and not the other war round as it makes more sense that way. It's one of those rare books that rewards you on multiple reads and the experience is never a dull on. Well worth checking out if you're a hopeless romantic or simply someone who longs to travel through time. Well worth the time (Sorry couldn't resist).