Paris Adrift

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Pub Date 4 Feb 2020 | Archive Date 29 Jan 2020

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Description

Hallie moves to Paris to reinvent herself, find a new life, and maybe a new love.

She’s off to a fair start, she’s landed a bartending job at a dive called Millie’s and found new friends in the eccentric crew that runs the place. Then, it gets weird. There's a strange woman who won't leave her alone. Garbled warnings from bizarre creatures disrupt her sleep. She keeps running into a man with a charming smile--a man she should probably steer clear of. And she can't stop falling back in time in Millie's keg room.

Soon, Hallie is caught up in something much bigger than herself—a project that this mystery man needs her to join. But with every trip through time, Hallie loses a little of herself, and each infinitesimal change she makes ripples through Paris, until the future she’s trying to save suddenly looks nothing like what she hoped for…

Hallie moves to Paris to reinvent herself, find a new life, and maybe a new love.

She’s off to a fair start, she’s landed a bartending job at a dive called Millie’s and found new friends in the...


Advance Praise

"This was a really gripping book that was also really thought provoking and moving."
- British Fantasy Society 

"...an unusual take on time travel and solid characters, including a fantastic protagonist."
- Publishers Weekly 

"In Hallie, E.J Swift has created a strong, capable and fascinating time-travelling heroine to rival the likes of Marty McFly and Doc Brown."
- Pop Culture Bandit 

"This was a really gripping book that was also really thought provoking and moving."
- British Fantasy Society 

"...an unusual take on time travel and solid characters, including a fantastic...


Marketing Plan

For all marketing and PR info, please contact Rob Power (rob.power@rebellion.co.uk). 

For all marketing and PR info, please contact Rob Power (rob.power@rebellion.co.uk). 


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781781087848
PRICE US$11.99 (USD)
PAGES 250

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Average rating from 41 members


Featured Reviews

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This will be available on February 4th.

What first interested me in this book was its comparison to Midnight in Paris, a movie that I love. I can’t say I see much of a resemblance, aside from the obvious (they both involve Paris), but I’m grateful for that blurb because otherwise this book might have passed me by.

Hallie is our main character, a woman who feels out of place in her own skin. She’s decided to travel to Paris, more to run away from something than to run toward anything. There, she gets a job at a bar and joins an eclectic group of friends. She finds a sense of family, a boyfriend, and-oh yeah- a time anomaly in a taproom. Soon, Hallie is traveling through both the past and future, making changes. Whether she’s fixing things, or causing irreparable damage remains to be seen.

On the surface, my description probably makes this book sound like a lighthearted romp. It isn’t at all. It explores the idea of small changes having big impacts, discusses problems in our present, and touches on themes of self-acceptance and change. It does all that in a fast-moving, unique way. I loved it.

There were several things that set this book apart from other time-traveling books. There wasn’t nonstop action, the futuristic gadgetry wasn’t everywhere, and a good chunk of time spent was actually traveling to the past as opposed to the future. I tend to shy away from books involving time travel because it’s hard for me to handle the problems that tend to arise when writing about that subject. This book handles those stumbling blocks with aplomb.

I liked the bohemian feel of the group of friends, how they were all dissatisfied with how the world works and desperately wanted to affect change, but were unsure how to start. I think many people can relate to that (and no, I’m not going to start a religious or political argument, I promise). I actually think the conversations Hallie had with her friends were some of the most interesting parts of the book. You know a writer is talented when the musings and dialogue are just as interesting as any action scene, if not more so.

While there was a climax of events, what I most enjoyed was how things got there. The ending, while good, almost didn’t matter because the meat of the story was so well done. I definitely recommend reading this one.

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This is a dystopian time travel story in a contemporary setting. It's a kind of plot I love to read about. The writing was good, plot development was exciting and the characters were well developed.
Thanks a lot to netgalley and the publisher for this copy.

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With gratitude to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a free ARC of this ebook.
This is one of those books that comes along once in a while that takes you by storm. It is rich in a way that few other books are. It tells the story of Hallie who goes to Paris, and then it breaks loose of the usual romances, Sci Fi and other genres. It's a glorious riot of a read, I absolutely loved it. It definitely won't be to everyone's taste, but for those who like a little scariness with their romance, or horror with their scifi it might be the book for you. It defies usual definitions, it delves into politics, and the myriad ways we are messing up our planet. I highly recommend it, and give it 4.5 stars.

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Paris Adrift opens on a wonderfully dystopian future with people desperate to go back in time to fix things. This introduces the chronomoterist – a creepy immortal being who lost themselves after too many time travel journeys.

This leads us to Hallie, the protagonist. A Brit who has run away from an unloving, abusive family to Paris. She finds a minimum wage job in a bar called Millie’s. Hallie’s friends are a diverse bunch and you're just getting to know them when the chronomoterist shows back up, luring Hallie towards a time travel anomaly.

Hallie then uses this to travel to different time periods and she manages to change the future. All solved, you’d think! Except she finds out that a different, also bad future is now on the cards.

I like the time travelling, and the friendship moments, and the thoughtful politics but a real strength for me is this concept of a malevolent, hungry anomaly waiting to draw her back. My one minor complaint is I’d liked to have more about that – perhaps in a sequel (with more chronometrist, too).

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With the power to travel through time, apparently, comes the responsibility to save the world whenever it looks like it’s about to end. The prologue to E.J. Swift’s Paris Adrift drops us right into one of these crises. Bombs have destroyed Europe and possibly the rest of the world, too. The people of the House of Janus have just one chance to rewrite history. That chance is Hallie, a woman on the run from her artist mother and newly arrived in Paris…and who has no idea that she can travel through time.

The prologue is bewildering. It’s also a titch bit portentous as characters make all kinds of dramatic statements. I was a bit close to ditching the book, but I’m glad I stuck with it. Once Hallie takes over as narrator, I was hooked on Paris Adrift. We meet her in 2017, just as she is about to try and wrangle a job interview at Millie’s, a venerable Paris bar. Someone gave her a tip and a name to drop to speed her way. After one night of very hard work—and a brief glimpse of a girl who looks a bit like Hallie and who is definitely wearing Hallie’s shoes—Hallie scores a position with the close-knit bar crew. Her new life is a dramatic change from serving the needs of her mother (who is determined to be an artist at all costs); she’s finally content with her life. But then, strange things start to happen. A woman in green tells her crazy things about traveling through time. Hallie experiences unsettling moments in the keg room of Millie’s. Then, bam!, Halie finds herself in 1875.

Thus begins Hallie’s sojourning through time, doing small tasks for an entity that appears either as a talking bird (go with it) or as a woman wearing something green. These tasks seem like minor meddling in history, but there are big changes when Hallie returns to her own time. Other people might be turned off the idea of time-traveling for fear of causing a world war or something. Hallie, however, is addicted to the feeling of traveling through the centuries of Parisian history. Even though Paris Adrift begins with the end of the world, much of the novel remains focused on Hallie and her literal and figurative journeys. I didn’t mind this at all. I loved looking at time-travel from the perspective of someone who just got caught up in something much bigger than they are. What would it be like if you, an ordinary person, suddenly learned that you had an amazing ability and duty to save the world? What would that do to you? Those are the questions Paris Adrift tackles.

I had a lot of fun reading Paris Adrift, once I got past a prologue that was a little too cryptic for its own good. I had a blast with the characters and dipping in and out of time with Hallie. I might have liked a bit more of Hallie’s adventures in the past, but I knew that the narrative would eventually have to swing back around to the events from the prologue. By that point, I had the requisite background to understand what the hell was actually going on and I didn’t mind so much that Hallie had to turn her attention from herself to the awesome task of saving history.

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There are several types of time-travel plots; in the case of this story, Hallie is able to travel through time at certain moments. She can choose which time period she wishes to go, people can see her once she is there and she can affect the course of history/alternate futures.

What I like about this story is how Hallie grows as a person, changed by her experiences with time and also the people she meets. The book speaks of friendship, love, and family, as well as how things each individual considers important in life are different. Hallie’s friends remind her not to be stuck in the past but move on and live the life she is supposed to live in her own time. The story tugs at the soul and I hope someday, that Hallie gets to meet all the friends she made in Paris again, just like how she manages to see Millie again.

#ParisAdrift #NetGalley
As always, I received a free review copy of this ebook and all opinions are my own.

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When a young woman arrives in Paris, she is running away from her life, and her family. What she doesn’t know is that she’s a key player in Parisian history...and the future.

Paris Adrift is a story that will capture the imagination. It’s a story of hope, of love, and of finding one’s self. Oh, and time travel, of course.

The fact this story was being compared to the likes of Midnight in Paris, and The Time Machine was what drew me in. I’m a sucker for a good time travel story, and the backdrop of Paris seemed unique. Paris Adrift did not disappoint. The idea of anomalies being the method of time travel, and that they seem to be semi-sentient is a great addition-as was the idea that each anomaly has an incumbent that it chooses. This felt like a new and exciting concept that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The biggest downside to the story was Part One. I was extremely confused by this introduction. It starts out introducing two of what seemed to be minor characters of the book at that time, before delving into the meat of the story. After finishing the book, I went back and read the beginning again, and it made much more sense. I understand the need for this Part One to exist, but I can see most readers might give up reading because of the confusing transitions and lack of understanding where the plot is heading.

That being said, stick with this book to the end! Paris Adrift was a pleasant surprise for me, and if you’re patient with the story, it will take you on a journey that will exceed your expectations.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read Paris Adrift as an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

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I really enjoyed this book. A very interesting and entertaining plot, well developed character and a very sound plot.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

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Paris Adrift is a standalone dystopian SF/fantasy by E.J. Swift. Due out 4th Feb 2020 from Rebellion Publishing, it's 250 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats (ebook available now). It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is shelved as dystopian speculative fiction, and it is, but what it struck me as primarily is character driven quest fiction. The friends surrounding and helping protagonist Hallie are growing and exploring the increasingly unstable timeline and trying to prevent the end of everything. The main value for me came from the character development and interaction, the scenery and descriptive prose. It's not an action packed read. The denouement is gentle, almost anti-climactic. Much of the plot centers around bar life and working conditions and rang believable and true.

I enjoyed the read, it was absolutely not what I was expecting, but it was beautifully written nonetheless. There are some slight elements of graphic body horror and descriptions. The language is R rated, but nothing extremely egregious.

As a small bit of nostalgia, the eARC of the book contains blurbs from several of the publisher's other imprints and backlist authors. I enjoyed the bonus and a couple of the blurbs appealed to me and I'll be chasing them down. It's always a good day when I find new authors to explore.

Four stars.

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Thoroughly enjoyable novel that brings Paris to life across the years - present, past and future. The mcguffin is sufficiently explained without overwhelming with unnecessary detail - it works and that’s what matters - and that allows the focus to be on personal impact, relationships and the web of history and the consequences of changing the past / future...
Bonus points for being wholly evocative of what it is to work nights in a bar and lose all sense of time and purpose!

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I love a good time travel story and this one did not disappoint. The world building is fantastic, as are the characters. A very atmospheric, sometimes creepy, read and one I am happy to recommend.

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I had a copy of this book early through Netgalley.

There was something dreamlike about this book, as if it was a surrealistic landscape. I still haven′t identified why I get this feeling. In many ways it′s a straightforward time travel book. The protagonist discovers that they can go back in time, there is one long description of the first event, and then shorter as they become accustomed to it. There is an acknowledgement that changing something in the past can affect the future, but on this occasion that change needs to take place. The descriptions of the past are vivid and interesting, and it′s the present that seems more hazy. We don′t learn much about the heroine to start with, and that might be why I felt a little disconnected at the beginning – also the heroine works in a bar and there is a lot of alcohol involved. Characters come and go and we don′t learn much about most of them, even though it seems some will be more important.
I lived in Paris in the eighties and it was good to reimmerse myself in the city, but the present-day Paris in the book seemed very similar to the one I knew, which I was a bit dubious about – surely it can′t have stayed so much the same. The little nudges that are done in the past produce a fascinating Paris, still recognisable, but again that taste of surrealism.
I did enjoy the story and I think the lack of connection is on my part and not the book′s part.

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Hallie is a young girl who has abandoned university for a year to find herself in Paris, getting a job in bar and meeting a group of intriguing friends. It is well written sci-fi and Hallie is a really interesting, fleshed out character. She discovers an anomaly in the basement of the bar, and eventually works out how to travel back in time and see many historical features of Paris. A strange group of people are manipulating her, and she ends up having to change some key events to avoid war in the future. The book makes parallels between the Fascist occupation of Paris and the rise of extreme politics in the present and future, and touches on environmental issues too.
Even if you not a fan of sci-fi generally, there is a lot to enjoy in the descriptions of Paris and the well-plotted adventures. I would recommend this to people who enjoy Margaret Atwood's more dystopian fiction like Orxy and Crake.

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At first I'd like to say I enjoyed reading most of this book. I did struggle in the beginning because the situation and language was a bit confusing. Once I let go of trying to understand everything, I was kind of swept along and it was a good story. I would only recommend to readers that don't mind a bit of ambiguity in their stories because some things are left unexplained.

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Hallie is young, depressed, and adrift. She leaves late-2010s Britain and a family that makes her feel unloved to take a gap year in Paris. Hallie hopes for happiness and reinvention. Her first new friend suggests she apply at Millie's, a bar that has been loved by demimondaines and tourists for ages. She makes friends at Millie's and becomes part of their family. However, she soon gets caught up with forces that are far larger than herself.

But Paris Adrift actually doesn't begin with Hallie. It begins in an irradiated, devastated war zone that used to be Europe, centuries from now. A small group of time travelers believes that if a few events in Paris are stopped, the war that caused this will not occur. They believe the person who can make these changes is in the 2010s. Guess who that might be?

Paris Adrift is one of those novels that demands immense concentration. I usually zip through a couple novels a week; I could not with this one. That said, Paris Adrift is anti-fascist, time-traveling fun with a heart. It's easy to sympathize with Hallie, and to be alternately heartened and horrified by what she sees and does. Hallie is not a superwoman, but a bright, decent, ordinary person doing her best in extraordinary circumstances. EJ Swift has a subtle but definite political agenda, and readers of right-wing persuasions will likely not enjoy it. There is some unavoidable violence and horror, but never anything too gratuitous. Swift's glimpses at Parisian history are tantalizing and realistic. She also maintains a firm grasp of the present.

I recommend Paris Adrift for anyone who likes time travel, speculative fiction, and strong but realistic women protagonists. Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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I cannot recommend this book enough. I was excited to read something different and this book did not disappoint me.

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I really enjoyed reading this book, it's a different type of story then I usually read but I recommend it for all readers.

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What a wonderful mind trip. It has a serious take on time travel. It covers Paris before,through and after its most reported and dramatized history. It lets you wander the Paris of old complete with colorful Madames and misfits. It imports you forward to a somewhat distopian future , where bad thoughts can be erased with just a sip of a concoction supplied by the government to keep the citizens in line and happy. Hallie is perfect for the anomaly who takes possession of an incumbent and transports them to a different time,but like all infections there is a human cost,internal,hypnotic,relentless. Science Fiction buffs you have entered a new era of storytelling and have a new voice that speaks. Happy reading

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