A young witch is cursed to relive a doomed love affair through many lifetimes, as both troubled muse and frustrated artist, in this haunting debut novel.
A WITCH IN TIME by CONSTANCE SAYERS
Series: Standalone
Publication date: February 11, 2020
Published by: Hachette/Redhook
Genre: fantasy, historical fiction
SYNOPSIS
In 1895, sixteen-year-old Juliet LaCompte has a passionate, doomed romance with the married Parisian painter Auguste Marchant. When her mother -- a witch -- attempts to cast a curse on Marchant, she unwittingly summons a demon, binding her daughter to both the artist and this supernatural being for all time. Juliet is fated to re-live her affair and die tragically young lifetime after lifetime as the star-crossed lovers reincarnate through history. The demon -- who appears to Juliet in all her reincarnations as a mysterious, handsome, and worldly benefactor-has been helplessly in love with her since 19th century France, even though she forgets him each time she dies. He falls for her in 1930s Hollywood, in 1970s Los Angeles, and finally in present-day Washington D.C. -- where she begins to develop powers of her own. In this life, she starts to remember her tragic past lives. But this time, she might have the power to break the cycle...
A Witch in Time is perfect for fans of A Secret History of Witches, Outlander, and The Time Traveler's Wife.
A Witch in Time is perfect for fans of A Secret History of Witches, Outlander, and The Time Traveler's Wife.
Praise for A Witch in Time:
"A captivating tapestry of a tale, A Witch in Time weaves together the supernatural, historical fiction, and a humorous present day heroine, while traveling the macabre brambles of a dark curse-through lifetimes-with a compass to the heart."―Gwendolyn Womack, bestselling author of The Fortune Teller & The Time Collector
"Fresh and original... a narrative rich in historical detail, brightened by flashes of humor, and filled with colorful characters and fascinating settings. A most rewarding read!"
―Louisa Morgan, author of A Secret History of Witches
"A sweeping story of magical, star-crossed love, as glamorous as it is romantic. Prepare to be dazzled."―Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger
"Sayers cleverly twists the loves-lost-through-time motif....A smart, engrossing debut from a writer to watch."―Kirkus
"I fell in love with Sayers' perfectly plotted debut. There's history and romance, humor and heartache, Paris and Hollywood, and a protagonist who's bewitching no matter the decade. It's time travel with a fresh twist!"―Karin Tanabe, author of A Hundred Suns
"With lush historical details and a wicked sense of humor, A Witch in Time fully immerses the reader in the story of Helen and her fated demon, unpacked like nesting dolls across time and lives, fortune and chance. From Belle Epoque France to modern-day D.C., from worlds pastoral, decadent, flashy to commercial, Sayers weaves a spell of love, lust and magic to create a page-turner like no other. All the thrill of a Discovery of Witches, with all the mystery and epic romance of Richard Matheson's classic Somewhere in Time."―Steph Post, author of Miraculum
"Sayers traverses time periods effortlessly with lush, graceful descriptions....This spiraling narrative will appeal to fans of historical fiction and complicated love stories ."―Publishers Weekly
"A captivating tapestry of a tale, A Witch in Time weaves together the supernatural, historical fiction, and a humorous present day heroine, while traveling the macabre brambles of a dark curse-through lifetimes-with a compass to the heart."―Gwendolyn Womack, bestselling author of The Fortune Teller & The Time Collector
"Fresh and original... a narrative rich in historical detail, brightened by flashes of humor, and filled with colorful characters and fascinating settings. A most rewarding read!"
―Louisa Morgan, author of A Secret History of Witches
"A sweeping story of magical, star-crossed love, as glamorous as it is romantic. Prepare to be dazzled."―Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger
"Sayers cleverly twists the loves-lost-through-time motif....A smart, engrossing debut from a writer to watch."―Kirkus
"I fell in love with Sayers' perfectly plotted debut. There's history and romance, humor and heartache, Paris and Hollywood, and a protagonist who's bewitching no matter the decade. It's time travel with a fresh twist!"―Karin Tanabe, author of A Hundred Suns
"With lush historical details and a wicked sense of humor, A Witch in Time fully immerses the reader in the story of Helen and her fated demon, unpacked like nesting dolls across time and lives, fortune and chance. From Belle Epoque France to modern-day D.C., from worlds pastoral, decadent, flashy to commercial, Sayers weaves a spell of love, lust and magic to create a page-turner like no other. All the thrill of a Discovery of Witches, with all the mystery and epic romance of Richard Matheson's classic Somewhere in Time."―Steph Post, author of Miraculum
"Sayers traverses time periods effortlessly with lush, graceful descriptions....This spiraling narrative will appeal to fans of historical fiction and complicated love stories ."―Publishers Weekly
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Constance Sayers’ debut novel, A Witch in Time, will be published in February 2020 from Redhook (Hachette Book Group).
A finalist for Alternating Current’s 2016 Luminaire Award for Best Prose, her short stories have appeared in Souvenir and Amazing Graces: Yet Another Collection of Fiction by Washington Area Women as well as The Sky is a Free Country. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.
She received her master of arts in English from George Mason University and graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts in writing from the University of Pittsburgh. She attended The Bread Loaf Writers Conference where she studied with Charles Baxter and Lauren Groff. Currently, she’s a media executive at Atlantic Media and she’s twice been named one of the “Top 100 Media People in America” by Folio and included in their list of “Top Women in Media.”
She lives outside of Washington DC and is the co-founder of the Thoughtful Dog literary magazine.
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A Witch in Time by Constance SayersI used to be cautious when trying out new authors. The unfamiliarity of their writing, not knowing how well you will mesh with their personal style, and the worry that the quality may not be up to par were things that went through my head. But in the last couple of years, I've found that some of my favorite reads have come from debut authors' first published books. Once again, with A Witch in Time I've been astonished by the quality of a new author on the scene, and her ability to tell a captivating, thoroughly original tale. It's easy to feel like you're stuck in a rut reading the same tropes and themes with slight variations, and boredom sets in. One thing I can guarantee is that you have never read anything like this, and once you fall into the rabbit hole of Helen's mysterious, cursed life, you will need to see where the twisted path untangles.
"Our illusions are powerful things we cling to."
Helen Lambert is a fragmented woman with an even more fragmented history. She just doesn't know it yet. It's current day Washington D.C. and she's recently divorced, ruminating over where things went wrong. It goes back much, much further than she could ever imagine. In the French countryside town of Challans in 1895. When she lived as an unsophisticated 16 year old named Juliet LaCompte, she set a chain of events in motion that would have unimaginable consequences.
He had warned her that there was no going back and he had been correct. But had he known how badly they would all pay?
Lucian is introduced in Helen's Paris flashbacks as Juliet's guardian or "benefactor." He takes care of her in Paris after her mother dies. How she came to live with him is shrouded in secrecy and confusion, and the more years she spends with him, the questions only multiply about who and possibly even what he is. Juliet is a stubborn and often impulsive girl, and and in my mind doesn't easily learn from her mistakes. She was definitely my least favorite version of Helen's lives. There were so many times I wanted to shake her for her foolishness. One thing I did enjoy about her was her gift for music. While living in the Paris apartment with Lucian, she masters the piano, and this talent was so deeply ingrained in her that it resurfaces in every lifetime. As her memories trickle back of Juliet, she's flooded with this piano mastery almost instantly. When she returns as Helen in the 1970s she's a college student who plays the keyboard in a band. When Marchant returns, he's always an artist of some sort, though in different mediums. I found it fascinating how the essence of who each person was manifested in different forms and shapes.
With each reincarnation, Helen seems to be discovering her past and fate later in life. Giving her less time to try to come up with a solution. The time restraint is a complication, but one advantage she has is her unusual powers that grow in strength. I wondered if these would play a part in finally breaking the curse. You really see them come in play in her third and final past life as Sandra Keane. I don't want to give too much away, but boy does it lead to a macabre scene. It made me reevaluate Lucian and see him with fresh eyes, and not in a good way. A power that was originally miraculous and healing becomes disturbing to the extreme.
This story was so detailed that it's layers had layers. There were many flashbacks and flash forwards, but it wasn't told in a confusing way. The past lives were told in chronological order and with each one you're given fresh information to help you put the full picture together, piece by piece. The clock ticks down as she races to jog her memories faster than she ever has before.
I understood in a flash how tricky time can be. It’s unnatural to witness so much sweeping change brought on by time. People were meant to live in their small pockets of time with events proceeding in digestible intervals. To see so many lifetimes of progress unfurled before us is far too jarring-almost incomprehensible.
Could there be a way out for these unfortunate souls? If I could change one thing, it would be the ending. Though I was satisfied by the ultimate resolution, I felt that it was rushed and a shade predictable for my taste. It felt a bit anticlimactic to have everything happen so quickly and just as expected from the implications earlier in the book. I genuinely thought there would be some sort of twist or wow factor to pull it all together, but I can't say I was disappointed with Helen's fate.
If you're looking for a fantasy that's outside of the box, this could be the one for you. The characters were flawed but compelling. The plot was air-tight. I'm always searching for plot holes and there wasn't even a crack to be found. This is one of those stories that played out like a movie in my head. To have that kind of visualization from a book is rare and exceptionally valued by this reader. It's one I will remember with clarity for a long time to come.
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