I thoroughly enjoyed reading a sampler of this time travelling thriller; it kept me guessing throughout and left me on a knife edge wondering how it will end.

A fascinating, thought provoking thriller about time travel, murder and a conspiracy that threatens to explode through time.

Four female scientists invent a time machine in 1967. They can only travel from this point in time, back and forward at will. When the initial trip is made by all four women the consequences are unknown and the whole project is put at risk when one of the women suffers a very public breakdown. Labelled as a liability and shunned by the group she tries to rebuild her life as best she can but always the thrill of time travel stays with her and as we revisit her fifty years later she is filled with the desire for one final trip. But the consequences of messing with the fragile fabric of time can be catastrophic and can set in motion destructive and dangerous events.

Visiting three time different periods in time, Kate Mascarenhas guides us expertly through the story and not once did I feel disorientated or unenjoyably lost. There is an element of trying to fit the pieces together but that is one of the things I love about a thriller, trying to work out the conclusion from the clues scattered throughout as the story builds up to the culmination of the (presumably) murdered women discovered by Odette in 2018.

This is a thriller unlike anything I have read before and I found it fascinating. The only frustration from reading this excellent sampler is that I will not discover what happens until August 2018. I will have to wait patiently for the answers... if only I had a time machine.

Oh just one more thing... I love the cover image for this title.

In 1967, 4 women, the Pioneers, invent a time travel machine. This discovery is at a price as travel through time creates a breakdown for one of the Pioneers, will this undermine their discovery and the hopes for a brave new world?
In 2017 time travel is big business. Ruby, the grandaughter of one of the pioneers, is drawn into the murky and complex world that her grandmother helped to create. In 2018, Odette, seemingly unconnected, stumbles across a dead body and becomes embroiled with The Conclave, the organisation in charge of all time travel.
The idea of time travel excited me. Jumping between times and ages is common place in fiction these days and thought it could be interesting to see how this works with the same characters in different periods.
We have strong female characters, in fact it’s nearly a whole female cast which is refreshing. Characters are interesting and their relationships intriguing although at times it all gets a little confusing but this settles down as you begin to identify with each character.
Although about time travel, this is not Sci Fi, it’s more like a time travel mystery. The science involved in this is light so not not difficult to get into. Perhaps too light for some. Pacing is well done and short snappy chapters help it to fly along.
It difficult to provide a proper review as the ARC was a sampler but helps being a large one weighing in at 21 chapters. It’s enough to get your teeth into and make you want for more. Highly enjoyable.
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC, in return for an honest review.

I'm not sure what made me what to read this sampler. Was it the idea of time travel? The spilt timelines between 1967, 2017 and 2018? The idea of strong, smart women? I have no idea. But there was something about this that caught my attention and I wanted to read this sampler - something I don't do often on NetGalley

This takes place over three times. In 1967, four female scientists invent a time-travel machine. But when one suffers a breakdown, it puts the whole operation at risk.

In 2017, Ruby knows that her grandmother was one of the four scientists who discovered time-travel but doesn't talk about it. But Ruby and her Granny Bee discover a note from the future, telling of an elderly woman's death.

And in 2018, Odette discovers the body of a unknown woman, she goes into shock, but when answers don't turn up, she begins to get frustrated and wonders if someone - no, everyone - is trying to cover this murder up...
I'm going to admit this now: this is a long sampler, but I decided to read only the first three chapters so I got a feel on the writing and the story. I didn't want to waste my time reading a sampler that I didn't like or feel I was going to enjoy, nor did I want to waste the time of the kind publisher who approved me reading this sampler.

Though there was a moment near the start of the first chapter I did have to get my head screwed on and go "Oh, I get this!", there's something about this that made me go "Ok, I think I would have fun reading this. It's not heavy scifi, but it's more human driven with a twist of mystery. Ok, I can handle this."

It feels like a story that might appeal to Station 19 or The Gracekeepers (neither I have read, sadly), where stories have a fantastical or scifi element, but is more human in tone. I do worry this might be too heavy with science, but front he vibe I got, this is a story about women and their relationships - to each other, to their daughters and granddaughters, to themselves - with scifi behind it. I am intrigued to see what happens when the novel comes out...

Loved it (so far) hard to review a book properly from a sample but what I read was a gripping, fast paced narrative with believable characters.

Four women working together invent a method for time travel.. It all seems fantastically successful until one of them suffers some kind of breakdown which seems to be due to the travelling.. This sample has definitely made me interested in reading the rest of the book, I want to know what happens to the characters.

Please, please give me the whole book, what are you doing to me.

In 1967 four young women scientists - Barbara, Grace, Lucille and Margaret - are pioneering time travel, with some help from a rabbit called Patrick Troughton. What’s not to love about that? And that’s just the first few pages. It’s all going swimmingly until the press turn up and one of the women experiences a breakdown on camera.

Fifty years later, Barbara (Bee), who has lived for years with bipolar disorder, receives a cryptic message from the future and expresses a wish to time travel one more time; her psychologist granddaughter Ruby, concerned about what it means, seeks some answers. And a few months later a young woman, Odette, discovers an unidentified body in an inexplicably locked room...

Having read this sampler I’m now really excited about the full book. Thinking about time travel never fails to tie my brain up in knots, but I love it in spite of that (or maybe because of it). The plot is hugely thought provoking and the characters (an almost entirely female cast of characters, which is refreshingly unusual) are very engaging. Not to mention frequently alarming.

It’s a sampler, but it’s a substantial one with plenty to get your teeth into. The story moves between the past and an alternate present in which time travel is a reality, with the attendant effects on people and society.

There are many delightful touches reflecting the changes wrought by the technology (for instance, a time travel glossary purchased by Bee includes a word for “feeling angry with someone for things they won’t do wrong for years”). Fantastic.

It’s intriguing speculative fiction about time travel and its effects on the human psyche; I can’t wait to find out what happens next.