Staff Pick
This is one of my very favorite books. It's a beautiful love story that's never sappy, and it breaks my heart each time I read it (which I'll keep doing forever). The Time Traveler's Wife is one of those books that make you feel lost without it when it's over. Recommended By Emily F., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
The beloved, mega bestselling first novel from Audrey Niffenegger, “a soaring celebration of the victory of love over time” (
Chicago Tribune).
A most untraditional love story, this is the celebrated tale of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who inadvertently travels through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare’s passionate affair endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap that tests the strength of fate and basks in the bonds of love.
“The Time Traveler’s Wife is an odd and enchanting love story. Most of us meet the person we love when we are adults, when the children we were are long gone. Henry and Clare—through the decidedly mixed blessing of Henry’s Chrono-Displacement Disorder—have it both ways. It is a story of intense devotion filtered through time—of two people who share the best and worst of growing up as soulmates in a world that can change in an instant”(Charles Dickinson, author of A Shortcut in Time).
Review
“[A] time-travel love story par excellence…It will be a hard-hearted reader who is not moved to tears by the dangers Henry and Clare ultimately face, and by the author’s soaring celebration of the victory of love over time.”
Review
“As Clare and Henry take turns telling the story, revealing the depth of their bond despite everything a sci-fi premise becomes a powerfully original love story.”
Review
“Spirited…Niffenegger plays ingeniously in her temporal hall of mirrors.”
Review
“Readers will recall in Love in the Time of Cholera a love that works despite all travails and impediments…Marquez, like Niffenegger here, means to tell us that for such exalted love there is no tragedy and never any constraints.”
Review
“Niffenegger’s inventive and poignant writing is well worth a trip.”
Review
“Moving, razor-edged prose…Niffenegger writes with the unflinching yet detached clarity of a war correspondent standing at the sidelines of an unfolding battle.”
Review
“A singular tale of a charming man with a funny condition (he slips in and out of time) and the woman who loves him. The setting, the city of Chicago, is luminous.”
Review
“As if love weren’t complicated enough, debut author Niffenegger dreams up a happy couple plagued by a peculiar problem…It is to Niffenegger’s credit that she avoids cheap shots and develops her innovative concept in some exceptionally strange and witty ways.”
Review
“Contrary to appearances, The Time Traveler’s Wife is a very old love story: wonky, sexy, incredible…charmingly, inventively retold and none the worse for it.”
Review
“An extraordinary novel with a unique premise…Niffenegger compassionately develops her unique characters, with the grace to accept their difficult circumstances, as well as their blessings. Don’t be deceived by the easy charm of Henry and Clare’s relationship; they will draw you into their small circle, make you complicit with their dreams and disappointments. They will break your heart.”
Review
“A soaring love story illuminated by dozens of finely observed details and scenes, and one that skates nimbly around a huge conundrum at the heart of the book…Leaves a reader with a sense of life’s riches and strangeness.”
Review
“Intricately woven…Exceedingly literate.”
Review
“Compelling…Skillfully written with a blend of distinct characters and heartfelt emotions that hopscotch through time, begging interpretation on many levels.”
Review
“To those who say there are no new love stories, I heartily recommend The Time Traveler’s Wife, an enchanting novel, beautifully crafted and as dazzlingly imaginative as it is dizzyingly romantic.”
Review
“Haunting, original, and so smart it took my breath away…in short, the rare kind of book that I finish and jealously wish that I’d written.”
Review
“The Time Traveler’s Wife is a Houdini box of a novel, filled with spring latches and trap doors. Henry and Clare’s love affair zigs and zags across decades – at times touching, childish, sexy, tragic but always true. It is an exhilarating ride, and I was grateful to travel along.”
Review
“Audrey Niffenegger imagines this story of an accidental time-traveler and the love of his life with grace and humanity. Fiercely inventive, slyly ambitious, and lovingly told, The Time Traveler’s Wife sparkles as it fearlessly explores the delicate interplay of love and time. This novel is a joy.”
Synopsis
The beloved, mega bestselling first novel from Audrey Niffenegger, "a soaring celebration of the victory of love over time" (Chicago Tribune).
A MOST UNTRADITIONAL LOVE STORY, this is the celebrated tale of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who inadvertently travels through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate affair endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap that tests the strength of fate and basks in the bonds of love.
Synopsis
*A People Top Ten Book of the Year* The beloved, mega bestselling first novel from Audrey Niffenegger, "a soaring celebration of the victory of love over time" (Chicago Tribune). A most untraditional love story, this is the celebrated tale of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who inadvertently travels through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate affair endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap that tests the strength of fate and basks in the bonds of love. "Niffenegger's inventive and poignant writing is well worth a trip" (Entertainment Weekly).
Synopsis
Soon to be a series on HBO *A People Top Ten Book of the Year*
The beloved, mega bestselling first novel from Audrey Niffenegger, "a soaring celebration of the victory of love over time" (Chicago Tribune).
A most untraditional love story, this is the celebrated tale of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who inadvertently travels through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate affair endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap that tests the strength of fate and basks in the bonds of love. "Niffenegger's inventive and poignant writing is well worth a trip" (Entertainment Weekly).
Synopsis
The Time Traveler's Wife HBO series premieres on May 15, 2022
The beloved, mega bestselling first novel from Audrey Niffenegger, "a soaring celebration of the victory of love over time" (Chicago Tribune).
A most untraditional love story, this is the celebrated tale of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who inadvertently travels through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate affair endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap that tests the strength of fate and basks in the bonds of love. "Niffenegger's inventive and poignant writing is well worth a trip" (Entertainment Weekly).
Synopsis
Now a series on HBO starring Rose Leslie and Theo James The iconic time travel love story and mega-bestselling first novel from Audrey Niffenegger is a soaring celebration of the victory of love over time (Chicago Tribune).
Henry DeTamble is a dashing, adventurous librarian who is at the mercy of his random time time-traveling abilities. Clare Abshire is an artist whose life moves through a natural sequential course. This is the celebrated and timeless tale of their love. Henry and Clare's passionate affair is built and endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap that tests the strength of fate and basks in the bonds of love. "Niffenegger's inventive and poignant writing is well worth a trip" (Entertainment Weekly).
Synopsis
A MOST UNTRADITIONAL LOVE STORY, this is the celebrated tale of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who inadvertently travels through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare’s passionate affair endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap that tests the strength of fate and basks in the bonds of love.
About the Author
Audrey Niffenegger is a visual artist and a guide at Highgate Cemetery. In addition to the bestselling novels The Time Traveler’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry, she is the author of three illustrated novels, The Three Incestuous Sisters, The Adventuress, and The Night Bookmobile, and the editor of Ghostly. She lives in Chicago.