Time and Again

Jack Finney

Mar 2014 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

The 50th anniversary edition of the beloved classic that Stephen King has called “THE great time-travel story.” Featuring a brand-new introduction by the New York Times bestselling author of Recursion, Blake Crouch.

When advertising artist Si Morley is recruited to join a covert government operation exploring the possibility of time travel, he jumps at the chance to leave his mundane 20th-century existence and step into the past. But he also has another motivation for going back in time: a half-burned letter that tells of a mysterious, tragic death and ominously of “fire which will destroy the whole world.”

Traveling to New York City in January 1882 to investigate, he finds a Manhattan teeming with a different kind of life, the waterfront unimpeded by skyscrapers, open-air markets packed with activity, Central Park bustling with horse drawn sleighs—a city on the precipice of great things. At first, Si welcomes these trips as a temporary escape but when he falls in love with a woman he meets in the past, he must choose whether to return to modern life or live in 1882 for good.

“Pure New York fun” (Alice Hoffman, New York Times bestselling author), Time and Again is meticulous recreation of New York in the late nineteenth century, exploring the possibilities of time travel to tell an ageless story of love, longing, and adventure. Finney’s magnum opus has been a source of inspiration for countless science fiction writers since its first publication in 1970.

Ratings and reviews

For books about space travel, time travel, anything in the sci fi realm, you need to suspend your disbelief. After that, you then get to place people in situations that would otherwise be impossible. I will try to state things without spoilers as best I can. The first major problem is the mechanism of time travel. It was such a ridiculous concept that it made me cringe. I was waiting for the whole book to find the catch, that this really wasn't how things worked. That realization never came. If the rest of the story was good, I could have got passed this, however this was not the case. More the half the book was straight forward descriptions of what he saw as he walked around. Page after page of describing clothing and hair styles. This may be interesting to a history buff or fashion designer. It was like reading an amalgamation of articles from 130 year old real estate and fashion magazines. Finally, the notion that he falls for a woman after only a few hours of knowing her is just absurd. One of the worst books I've read in years.

I read this book 15 years ago and to this day I still turn to reread it. Great storytelling and takes you through a wonderful journey.

A fascinating story. It took awhile to set the stage but well worth reading until it took off.

About the author

Jack Finney (1911–1995) was the author of the much-loved and critically acclaimed novel Time and Again, as well as its sequel, From Time to Time. Best known for his thrillers and science fiction, a number of his books—including Invasion of the Body Snatchers—have been made into movies.