AUTHOR Thea Lim takes the familiar trope of using time travel to change one’s fate and save a loved one, but instead of sending the protagonist to the past, she sends them to the future.
Essentially, the story is about coping with loss.
In this case, loss comes in many forms.
In 1981, Polly agrees to travel to 1993 to work for a wellness corporation in exchange for a cure to treat her boyfriend Frank, who has fallen victim to a deadly pandemic.
The technology is unable to send people back in time to stop the pandemic, but it can transport the uninfected to a new life in the future.
The lovers plan to reunite in 1993.
But due to a glitch, Polly ends up in 1998, missing her rendezvous with Frank.
She also finds that the world has changed greatly, with many societies divided after the pandemic.
Despite the odds stacked against her, Polly tries to find Frank.
But her new life takes some getting used to, and so are the people who are part of her new life.
The narrative moves back and forth between Polly’s life before and after the trip.
The world Lim creates is different from what we know and remember. Nonetheless, it is still an interesting story.
