THE VANISHING OF JOSEPHINE REYNOLDS

In this magic-tinged novel, time travel to the Prohibition era gives a grieving woman a way to change her life and save her family.

Following the death of her husband, 35-year-old Josephine Reynolds is wallowing in grief and wishing she could just disappear. Months later, she’s still unable to move forward, until her sister encourages her to buy their ancestral Nashville home. Josephine has big plans for renovating the house, including finding the perfect replacement for the shabby front door. She’s flabbergasted when the door she finds at a local salvage yard turns out to be the house’s original entryway, and, incredibly, it’s a doorway into the past. How is it possible that when Josephine uses the original key, she steps into the Jazz Age? It’s 1927, and Josephine quickly realizes what’s at stake. When she returns to the present, an internet search reveals that her great-grandmother Alma died during a raid on her basement speakeasy that year—and that she had no children at the time of her death. But if that’s what happened, how did Josephine’s grandmother and mother—and Josephine herself—come to be born? Josephine takes on the daunting task of stopping Alma’s death so her family can exist. Meanwhile, in the present, her possessions begin to disappear as if they and she are already being erased from the world. Fans of time travel will love this imaginative, high-stakes novel, as will fans of The Great Gatsby, thanks to the vivid descriptions of the Jazz Age, its parties, music, and dancing, and the way women were fighting for their rights and potential. Part fantasy, part romance, part coming-of-age story, this sweetly told tale of a woman’s search for her true self is imbued with Moorman’s trademark touch of magic.

A delightful heroine jumps into the past in order to embrace her future.