A remarkably inventive novel that explores what it means to live a life fully in the moment, even if those moments are out of order.
It’s New Year’s Eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight she will turn nineteen, and the year ahead promises to be one of consequence. Should she go to London to study economics, or remain at home in Brooklyn to pursue her passion for music and be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the New Year begins, Oona faints and awakens thirty-two years in the future in her fifty-one-year-old body. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. And so begins The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart…
Hopping through decades, pop culture fads, and much-needed stock tips, Oona is still a young woman on the inside but ever changing on the outside. Who will she be next year? Philanthropist? Club Kid? World traveler? Wife to a man she’s never met? Surprising, magical, and heart-wrenching, Margarita Montimore has crafted an unforgettable story about the burdens of time, the endurance of love, and the power of family.
My thoughts:
This is a really clever take on time travel, Oona wakes up each time at another point in her life, completely unaware of how old she is and what’s happened recently.
Clever, funny and well written, this romp through one woman’s life, completely out of order as she tries to find some.
The supporting characters of Oona’s mother and assistant are great too, as the holders of Oona’s secret they could be the villains but they choose instead to help her and fill in the blanks.
I was kindly sent a copy of this book by the publisher with no obligation to review.