Faye, faraway. [adult book discussion kit]

Format:

Book (regular print)

Title:

Faye, faraway. [adult book discussion kit]

Other title(s):

Adult book discussion kit : Faye, faraway

Author:

Fisher, Helen, 1972- author

ISBN:

9781982142674

Edition:

First Gallery Books hardcover edition.

Publication:

[Newberg, Oregon : CCRLS, 2021]

Physical Description:

10 books (296 pages ; 24 cm), 1 discussion guide ; in container.

General Note:

Plastic tote containing ten copies of the title.

Edition of book used: New York, Gallery Books, 2021.

Summary:

"An irresistibly moving, heartfelt debut novel for fans of The Time Traveler's Wife and Outlander about a grown woman who travels back in time to be reunited with the mother she lost when she was seven years old"-- Provided by publisher.

Every night, before Fay puts her daughters to bed, she thinks of her own mother, Jeanie, who died when Faye was only seven years old. Her life is turned upside down when she finds herself in 1977, the year before her mother died. Suddenly she is reunited reconnect with her long-lost mother, and even meets her own younger self, a little girl she can barely remember. As the two women become friends, they share many secrets. Faye knows that eventually she will have to choose between those she loves in the past and those she loves in the here and now, and that knowledge presents her with an impossible choice. -- adapted from jacket

Local Note:

For use by CCRLS libraries only. Not available for inter-library loan.

Subject(s):

Mothers and daughters -- Fiction.

Time travel -- Fiction.

Genre:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Newberg Public Library	BOOK KIT FISHER	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A heartfelt, spellbinding, and irresistible debut novel for fans of The Time Traveler's Wife and Outlander that movingly examines loss, faith, and love as it follows a grown woman who travels back in time to be reunited with the mother she lost when she was a child.

Faye is a thirty-seven-year-old happily married mother of two young daughters. Every night, before she puts them to bed, she whispers to them: "You are good, you are kind, you are clever, you are funny." She's determined that they never doubt for a minute that their mother loves them unconditionally. After all, her own mother Jeanie had died when she was only seven years old and Faye has never gotten over that intense pain of losing her.

But one day, her life is turned upside down when she finds herself in 1977, the year before her mother died. Suddenly, she has the chance to reconnect with her long-lost mother, and even meets her own younger self, a little girl she can barely remember. Jeanie doesn't recognize Faye as her daughter, of course, even though there is something eerily familiar about her...

As the two women become close friends, they share many secrets--but Faye is terrified of revealing the truth about her identity. Will it prevent her from returning to her own time and her beloved husband and daughters? What if she's doomed to remain in the past forever? Faye knows that eventually she will have to choose between those she loves in the past and those she loves in the here and now, and that knowledge presents her with an impossible choice.

Emotionally gripping and ineffably sweet Faye, Faraway is a brilliant exploration of the grief associated with unimaginable loss and the magic of being healed by love.

Author Notes

Helen Fisher spent her early life in America but grew up mainly in Suffolk, England, where she now lives with her two children. She studied psychology at the University of Westminster and ergonomics at University College London and worked as a senior evaluator in research at the Royal National Institute of Blind People. She is the author of Faye, Faraway .

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Fisher unspools a quirky tale about a time-traveling British housewife in her enchanting debut. Faye, who lost her mother at seven, discovers an old box of toys from her youth can whisk her back to early childhood. There, Faye saves her six-year-old self from being hit by a car, and her mother, Jeanie, gushes with gratitude and invites her to come home with them. Faye, now a happily married mother of two daughters, basks in the opportunity to get to know her free-spirited mother from an adult perspective, noticing mannerisms kept in her memory's "cold storage," such as her mother's wink and her way of sweeping her hair over her shoulder. But when the box is almost destroyed, Faye's intense reaction alarms her husband, forcing her to confront what she's been up to. Fisher invites readers to suspend disbelief along with Faye, who, finding herself back in time, "had never had such unequivocal, solid proof of something being real, yet at the same time not believed in it," and Fisher's achingly authentic characters leap off the page and capture readers' hearts. This addictive, emotionally heavy page-turner marks a delightful spin on the time travel genre. (Jan.)

Kirkus Review

A time-traveling wife and mother who lives in London becomes obsessed with spending time with her own long-lost mother. Thirty-six-year-old Faye was adopted by kindly neighbors as a child. She and her mother lived down the road from Em and Henry, and when Faye was 8, her mother came down with a bad cough and then was just gone. The decades passed, but as an adult--despite a happy childhood, a loving marriage, and two beloved young daughters of her own--Faye continued to have an aching hole in her heart where her mother should have been. A string of events leads her to step into an empty box that a Space Hopper toy had arrived in one Christmas when she was a child. She ends up spinning through time, landing in her mother's house. The box is a portal between her past and present. That present includes Faye's husband, Eddie, long in finance, who is training to be a vicar. Much of this volume is spent contemplating the meaning of faith, trust, belief in things you cannot see, and whether it takes more to believe in the concept of God or in time travel. The premise of the book is, of course, fantastical, but Fisher deals well with the emotional and physical implications such a situation would have on a woman and a marriage. No time is spent dwelling on how or why things happen--this book is much more interested in relying on blind trust. The same trust that Faye must have in her husband's belief that God called him to be a vicar, he must have in her time traveling, and the reader must have in the story. Readers interested in pondering the basis of faith and how far it can stretch will find much to contemplate in this story. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

For Faye, her mother's death was a sad, but well-hidden, part of life. She lived a content, uneventful childhood after Jeanie passed away, taken in by elderly neighbors down the street. She was cared for, even loved, by her guardians, but the loss of her mother was something Faye felt certain she's never truly comprehended. Until, as an adult, she stumbles upon a chance to see Jeanie again. A childhood toy box holds a portal allowing Faye to jump backward in time to interact with her mother, her caregivers, and even her childhood self. She knows it's illogical, but it's a gift she can't ignore. When her disappearances start becoming more noticeable, she has to spill her time-traveling secret. But does that mean losing Jeanie all over again? Fisher's debut is far from maudlin or morose--it's a warm, witty, wholehearted glimpse inside a parallel universe. Genuine and touching, Fisher's narrative voice will appeal to fans of Kelly Harms, Lia Louis, and Julie Valerie. Exploring the power of believing in the impossible, Faye, Faraway is a delight.