Feeling a sense of déjà vu?

What if that feeling of déjà vu is telling you how to alter your future?

In a completely unique take on historical fiction, Ursula is born a peculiar child in England, known only to the reader of having a seemingly infinite number of lives, as she grows she begins to have the sense that she knows things that she has no way of knowing. As the reader follows Ursula through various alternating lives as Ursula is born and dies in ways that not only change her life but those around her.

Kate Atkinson's Life After Life is one of the more challenging books I have read recently. Alternating story lines are cleverly woven between 1910 and 1967, as Atkinson explores the idea of déjà vu and what would happen if we are able to use those feelings to alter the future by changing our present. "The past seemed to leak into the present, as if there were a fault somewhere. Or was it the future spilling into the past?"

Beautifully written, Life After Life is well thought out, challenging, and profound. For those readers that like to be able to pickup and put down a book, this one is not for you. Keeping the years and alternating stories straight requires a great amount of commitment from the reader. And at 529 pages, it is not a quick commitment either. But for those who like a reading challenge, Atkinson will take you on a unique journey, and Ursula and her various lives will stick with you, even after you've turned the final page.