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Sideways and Backwards: A Novel of Time Travel and Self Discovery
Natasha Delancourt, the Editor-in-Chief of a large publishing company, wakes up the morning after Halloween with a massive hangover. She also has a huge problem when a compromising photo of her from the night before goes viral. Advised by her company PR to get out of London and turn off her phone, she takes the train to Cambridge for a weekend of self-imposed quiet reflection. Determined to figure out how her life has gone so sideways, and how she can start fresh, she makes an afternoon pilgrimage to Evensong service at King's College, an ancient chapel in the heart of Cambridge. Then things get strange. Really strange. Feeling moved by the music and surroundings, she closes her eyes in quiet meditation, and then the world gets dark. She wakes up in the same place, but a very different time....
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Published April 15, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 25, 2016
This entertaining time travel story follows the adventures of a young woman in England named Tasha Delancourt. At 35 she has reached the summit of a solid job as editor in chief at Court Magician. Waking up the morning after the night before with her phone ringing, 187 messages, and those photos . . .
Her publicist advises her to lie low for a while and let her do some damage control. She might be able to salvage her position, but it's going to be a major job. Deciding to take her advice, she heads out for a quiet weekend in Cambridge. Sitting in a pew at evensong at Kings, she enters into the spirit of the music and begins to meditate on the direction her life has taken lately. When the room begins to spin, she attributes it at first to the hangover she still feels. Then she passes out.
When she wakes up it is 1539, and her adventures begin. She is befriended by a scholar named Matthew and a midwife named Alice, who try to help her return to her own time while avoiding being burned as a witch in 1539.
This book a lively account of the daily routine in 1539 and brings to life the challenges facing women without a man to protect them. It also stresses the dangers facing a woman who is not properly submissive to man's authority.
Teysko deftly handles the challenges of life in 16th century England as well as the challenge her heroine faces in trying to read her own time.
I expected nothing less from the host of the podcast Renaissance English History.
Her publicist advises her to lie low for a while and let her do some damage control. She might be able to salvage her position, but it's going to be a major job. Deciding to take her advice, she heads out for a quiet weekend in Cambridge. Sitting in a pew at evensong at Kings, she enters into the spirit of the music and begins to meditate on the direction her life has taken lately. When the room begins to spin, she attributes it at first to the hangover she still feels. Then she passes out.
When she wakes up it is 1539, and her adventures begin. She is befriended by a scholar named Matthew and a midwife named Alice, who try to help her return to her own time while avoiding being burned as a witch in 1539.
This book a lively account of the daily routine in 1539 and brings to life the challenges facing women without a man to protect them. It also stresses the dangers facing a woman who is not properly submissive to man's authority.
Teysko deftly handles the challenges of life in 16th century England as well as the challenge her heroine faces in trying to read her own time.
I expected nothing less from the host of the podcast Renaissance English History.
September 23, 2018
Great concept, mediocre execution
The notion of time travelling historical fiction drew me immediately to Sideways and Backwards, and I was excited to read the novel. I was sadly disappointed, however - the writing is often sloppy, the story itself is often too convenient and the author makes no effort to attempt to alter the language of the 16th century characters.
What could've been a great story is sadly let down by these glaring issues, not to mention the various errors missed during the editing process.
The notion of time travelling historical fiction drew me immediately to Sideways and Backwards, and I was excited to read the novel. I was sadly disappointed, however - the writing is often sloppy, the story itself is often too convenient and the author makes no effort to attempt to alter the language of the 16th century characters.
What could've been a great story is sadly let down by these glaring issues, not to mention the various errors missed during the editing process.
February 6, 2017
Easy to read but didn't enjoy the main character all that much and definitely didn't feel sorry for her. The end was good but didn't redeem the book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews