Sometimes books really resonate with readers. I’ve had that experience myself. So it was gratifying to hear from a woman recently who read my Young Adult novel The Time Telephone. In the story, a teenage girl whose mother was killed covering the war in Afghanistan discovers an antique telephone that allows her to call her dead mother in the past. Of course, Megan wants desperately to prevent her mom’s death. It's not your typical time travel story. It’s a YA novel that appeals across generations. An Australian reader who admits she’s not a teenager, thus not the target demographic, sent me a touching email a couple of weeks ago.
“I may be grandma's age but I still could relate to the story. I'm working on ancestry and I would so love to have that phone to call family members that have passed on, not necessarily to reshape history, but to talk with them again find out who my 3x great grandmother was, as all I have is a name. I'd love to be able to speak to my husband again and tell him all about his granddaughter.”
Her words made me think about who I would call if I had a time telephone and the conversations we might have. Her words also made me acutely aware of how we take our loved ones for granted. We assume we’ll have plenty of time for more visits and more conversations. Plenty of time to say, “I love you,” “I appreciate you,” and “I admire you." So thank you to Traci in Australia for reminding me.
If you haven’t read the novel and would like to, I’ve set the price of the e-book to FREE from April 12 – 16 – for yourself or as a gift. You can check it out on the sales page here.