“I couldn’t stop thinking that where we stood was the center of something, a place that created the kind of gravity that made galaxies.”
Few things in the realms of fantasy and science fiction quite match the enduring appeal of time travel. The linear passing of time is one of the fundamental realities of existence, but the idea of being able to distort that and travel back and forth in time, visiting dinosaurs, flying spaceships, and not embarrassing yourself in front of your crush is something we will never tire of pondering. With that being said, plenty of films, television shows, and books have demonstrated that this power isn’t always a good thing and that even the smallest of changes to the past or present can have profound consequences on everything. Nevertheless, we’d still like to give it a go. So, from romps across space to second-chance romances, check out the best time travel books with us here at What We Reading!
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffengger
First up on our list of the best time travel books is Audrey Niffengger’s 2003 classic, The Time Traveler’s Wife. The book tells the tale of Clare and Henry. The pair met when the former was six and the latter thirty-six and were married by the time Clare was twenty and Henry was thirty. Sounds impossible, right?
As readers soon discover, Henry suffers from a rare condition where his entire biological clock resets, pulling him either into the past or the future. Faced with an incredible force that neither of them can control, The Time Traveler’s Wife tells the tale of the pair’s struggle to maintain a normal life and healthy relationship in a story that is equally engrossing to think about as it is moving to read.
11/22/63 – Stephen King
November 22, 1963, has gone down as one of the most infamous days in American history, with an entire generation remembering exactly what they were doing when three shots rang across Dallas, Texas. The assassination of John F. Kennedy rocked the world and continues to fascinate and cause speculation.
But, in his 2011 time travel book, Stephen King tackles one of history’s biggest ‘what ifs’ through the story of Jake Epping, an English teacher from Maine who is sent out on a seemingly impossible mission: prevent the Kennedy assassination. Sent back in time to an era of diners and big cars, the time of Lindy Hopping and Elvis, he falls in love with a school librarian named Sadie and, as the fateful 11/22/63 date approaches, encounters a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald.
The 7 ½ Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle – Stuart Turton
On the 19th anniversary of their son’s death, Lord and Lady Hardcastle throw a party, inviting all of those present on that day. At 11 pm that evening, Evelyn Hardcastle is murdered. Aiden Bishop is forced to relive this same series of events over and over again, experiencing it from the perspectives of different witnesses.
The only way he can escape this never-ending loop is by identifying and naming who the killer is. Stuart Turton’s The 7 ½ Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle is a thrilling time travel mystery where readers are shown the same story from multiple viewpoints, with each of them flipping what they thought they knew and who their suspicions should be falling on.
Kindred – Octavia E. Butler
One of the all-time classic time travel books, Kindred is a 1979 historical fiction story by Octavia E. Butler.
Dana, a contemporary black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is suddenly snatched from her home in California. Transported to the antebellum South, she is tasked with saving Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner. She soon finds herself being pulled back in time to the slave quarters, with each stay growing longer than the one before and the experiences becoming more arduous and painful. Before long, it becomes unclear whether or not Dana’s life will come to an end before it has even had a chance to begin.
This Time Tomorrow – Emma Straub
Delivered with humour, heart, and insight, Emma Straub’s This Time Tomorrow takes a play on the typical time travel story tropes and presents one of the most endearing love stories.
With her fortieth birthday approaching, Alice is fairly content with her life. Her job might not have been what she was expecting, nevertheless, she’s happy with her occupation, her apartment, her romantic status, and her friendship circle. But, her father’s health is failing him, and Alice can’t help but feel something is missing from her life. When she wakes up the next morning, she finds herself back in 1996 as a sixteen-year-old. Reunited with her forty-something father, now healthily full of life again, she is armed with a wholly new appreciation of both her own life and his. But, will this new perspective lead to her changing anything about her past now that she can?
The Sirens Of Titan – Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Another one of the classic time travel books, The Sirens of Titan is an absurd trek through time and space by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. The book tells the story of Malachi Constant, the richest and most depraved man in future America. On the eve of an interplanetary war, he is allowed to travel from Earth to Mars and Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.
His journey soon collides with Winston Miles Rumfoord, an astronaut-turned-’wave phenomena’ with god-like powers. Through Constant’s futile efforts to thwart Rumfoord, readers are taught a fascinating lesson about free will, external control, and humanity’s search for meaning in what often appears a random and purposeless universe.
Wrong Place Wrong Time – Gillian McAllister
Nominated for Best Mystery and Thriller in the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards, Wrong Place Wrong Time is a time travel-based book by Gillian McAllister. Midnight, Halloween. Jen is anxiously waiting for her eighteen-year-old son, Todd, to come home. A broken curfew becomes the least of her concerns, however, when Todd emerges from the darkness and stabs a random stranger. She doesn’t know who the victim is or what caused such a senseless act of violence, all she knows is that both her and her son’s lives have been shattered.
But, when she wakes up the next morning, it is yesterday. The murder hasn’t happened yet. Now with a chance to stop the act from happening, Jen finds herself traveling further and further back into the past, piecing together the events and influences that would eventually trigger Todd’s terrible crime.
In Five Years – Rebecca Serle
Dannie Kohan is right on track to achieve her dream five-year plan when she goes to sleep after acing a job interview and accepting her boyfriend’s marriage proposal. But, when she wakes up in Rebecca Serle’s time travel romance book, In Five Years, she finds herself in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger and a different man beside her. Turning on the television reveals it is five years in the future.
After an hour, Dannie finds herself waking again, back in the present day. Nevertheless, she can’t shake what has just happened. Though it felt more real than a dream, she isn’t the sort to believe in visions and decides to shelve it. That is until four and a half years later when she encounters the man from her dream. In Five Years is a New York Times bestseller and one of the most beloved explorations of loyalty, friendship, and the unpredictability of destiny.
Check Out The Best Romance Books Like In Five Years
A Quantum Love Story – Mike Chen
One of the most anticipated time travel books from 2024, A Quantum Love Story is a cosy sci-fi romance tale by bestselling author Mike Chen.
Grieving the recent death of her best friend, neuroscientist Mariana Pineda is about ready to give up her career as a consultant at a top-secret particle accelerator and start anew. But then the strangest thing happens; a man named Carter Cho stops her, claiming to know who she is, why she is grieving and that she needs to remember everything he is saying. The two find themselves caught in a loop of reliving the same four days over and over again, with the only thing changing between them being what they share. But, Carter’s memories of the cycle are beginning to fade, meaning their only chance at happiness is by breaking out of the time loop – forever.
Check Out The Best 2023 Books For Men
One Last Stop – Casey McQuiston
For the cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City was supposed to prove that things like love don’t exist and the best way of navigating life is alone. After all, there’s nothing less glamorous than waiting tables at a pancake diner and a daily commute on the subway. Until she sees the gorgeous girl on the train one day.
Casey McQuiston introduces readers to the charming, mysterious, and impossible Jane in her 2021 LGBT contemporary romance book, One Last Stop. With her swoopy hair and soft smile, seeing Jane becomes the highlight of August’s day. The only problem? Jane is a displaced punk rocker from the 1970s. To save the girl from the past, August is going to have to start believing in some things and let go of plenty of others in this big-hearted love story.
The Unmaking Of June Farrow – Adrienne Young
In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are infamous for their thriving flower farms, and for the mysterious curse that has afflicted their whole family line. Following the disappearance of Susanna Farrow, June has been raised by her grandmother. And it’s now been a year since she started hearing and seeing things that weren’t there.
June knows what’s coming, but she’s determined to end the curse that has plagued her family for centuries. Following the death of her grandmother, she discovers a series of cryptic clues relating to her mother’s disappearance. Following them soon leads to her walking down a path that could hold all the answers she’s looking for, but which might forever alter both the future and the past in the process. In The Unmaking of June Farrow, Adrienne Young delivers a spellbinding time travel book about romance, mystery, and one woman’s efforts to solve her mother’s disappearance, find love, and end a centuries-old curse.
Confessions Of A Jane Austen Addict (Jane Austen Addict #1) – Laurie Viera Rigler
After nursing her broken engagement with Jane Austen novels and Absolut, Courtney Stone wakes up one morning to find that she is no longer in her Los Angeles bedroom, or even in her own body anymore. Instead, she has awoken in Regency England as Miss Jane Mansfield. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict is Laurie Viera Rigler’s historical fiction time travel comedy and follows Courtney as she is forced to step into the shoes of Jane Mansfield.
Despite knowing nothing about the woman, she manages to fool even the most astute of observers from the time. However, the years of reading Jane Austen novels could never have prepared her for the stinking chamber pots, suffocating chaperones, and marriages of convenience. But, as she becomes more acquainted with her new life, she encounters the enigmatic Mr. Edgeworth. As he fills her head with memories that are not her own, Courtney begins to realize that living another life as Jane Mansfield may come with its own set of advantages.
Landline – Rainbow Rowell
Landline is one of the best contemporary romance time travel books by Rainbow Rowell.
Georgie McCool is aware her marriage is in trouble and has been for a long time. She still loves her husband Neal, and he still deeply loves her, but that seems beside the point now.
On the eve of visiting Neal’s family for Christmas, Georgie tells him that she can’t go. She’s used to him getting upset with her, however, she doesn’t expect him to pack up and leave with the kids without her. Left alone, Georgie begins to wonder whether she’s finally managed to ruin everything. That is when she discovers a way of communicating with Neal in the past, presenting her with an opportunity to fix her marriage before it even starts. But, what if the pair of them would have been better off if their marriage had never happened in the first place?
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
