Dr Alison Howden has devoted her life to understanding the base rules of the universe, the ones that hold even in multiple universes. If she can just understand how everything works then she maybe will find it easier to live by her one rule: never go back on a promise. Especially her marriage vows.
Then Jack explodes into her carefully controlled life. He reveals that all her theories are true - he’s from another universe. But his world is crumbling. He can save them but he’s trapped in Alison’s universe and only she can help. She agrees to go with him, determined to save them and tempted by the promise of seeing the multiverse for herself.
Jack promises he’ll bring her back home. Or perhaps to a more perfect version of home - one where keeping her promises isn’t quite so hard. All she has to do is hold her nerve, trust him and take the leap.
Dr Alison Howden has devoted her life to understanding the base rules of the universe, the ones that hold even in multiple universes. If she can just understand how everything works then she maybe will find it easier to live by her one rule: never go back on a promise. Especially her marriage vows.
Then Jack explodes into her carefully controlled life. He reveals that all her theories are true - he’s from another universe. But his world is crumbling. He can save them but he’s trapped in Alison’s universe and only she can help. She agrees to go with him, determined to save them and tempted by the promise of seeing the multiverse for herself.
Jack promises he’ll bring her back home. Or perhaps to a more perfect version of home - one where keeping her promises isn’t quite so hard. All she has to do is hold her nerve, trust him and take the leap.
Through dust motes dancing in the overhead lights, she looked out over row upon row of eager faces. Circles of brightness against the dark varnished wood and tiered leather benches. Six centuries of students had come here to Edinburgh University’s oldest lecture theatre to hear Hume, Higgs and Ross explain the very secrets of the universe. Now they were here to see her. It was pretty full.
Give it time.
“Good morning, everyone. My name is Dr Alison Howden. I’m a research fellow in applied theoretical physics. This class is about bubble universe theory. In other words: alternate realities. Do they exist and can we see them?”
She had said these words every year for almost a decade. The first time, she had picked them with great care and attention, writing draft after draft, memorising every word. Now they emerged with no conscious effort at all, allowing her brain to wander.
A girl near the front, her brand-new laptop open and two, no three, crisp notebooks next to it, was surreptitiously checking out the people in the other front rows. Probably a first year. She liked the girl’s eager expression. She had been like her once. But everyone makes sacrifices for the ones they love. She caught herself spinning her wedding ring on her finger and clamped her hands together.
The first years hadn’t yet realised that taking a class on the physics of alternate realities was going to be really hard. Half of them were there because they had to choose an extra course to make up their quota for the year. They wanted proof of other worlds, or at least make their resumes look less humanities heavy and to help them get a job. With any luck they would be gone within two weeks and others would drift off in dribs and drabs over the term, their enthusiasm draining, class after class. Eventually she would be left with a smaller class, but they would be the real students. The ones willing to put in the hard work.
She had reached the part about tutorial schedules. Cosy groups in King’s Buildings on the other side of town, surrounded by scientists, closeted with her students, talking about the underbelly of the universe.
There were bound to be, as always, a couple of hangers on. Students who weren’t even taking the course but wanted to know a bit more about the world. Randoms from off the street who wanted something to do on a Tuesday morning at 10.30am. She was supposed to take a register to weed out these non-paying walk-ins, but she never did until week 5. If they stayed beyond the lecture on the equation to calculate the red shift of a wormhole, she would let them stay, maybe even invite them along to the tutorials.
She was reaching the crux of her introduction. They still looked keen. She clicked to the next slide. Here we go.
“Theoretical physics sounds cool. There’s always a physicist in a film who plots the route through a black hole, deciphers messages from another planet, or proves once and for all that the earth can be saved by numbers.
“That’s not what this course is about. You’re going to be learning about proper theoretical physics. We are talking tiny numbers over vast distances and measuring the slightest changes which can mean something, nothing or everything and it can take years to work out which one it is. My last piece of research was to decipher two years’ worth of background radiation to look for a slight discrepancy between two telescopes to identify a possible touch point which might indicate another universe pushing onto ours or might be the shadow from a passing meteor.” Who was looking interested? “It was the meteor.”
There was a titter from the room. Someone always thought she was joking. She kept her face neutral until they stopped.
“You don’t have to stay. I won’t be offended if this isn’t for you. If you do stay, and if you like hard work, it will be worth it. If you can make it through the first four years you can be involved in unpicking how the universe works. At its core.”
Unusually there was a hand up. It was a boy near the back. She nodded at him.
“Didn’t one of the lecturers here go to Hollywood? Didn’t he win an Oscar?”
Her stomach twisted but she kept her face calm. “Yes, that’s right.”
“So, it’s possible to make a proper career out of this then?”
A proper career. She didn’t bother answering.
Another hand. It was the enthusiastic girl at the front. “Dr Howden, I heard that you were supposed to go and then you didn’t. Didn’t you want to go?”
What a strange question. What could she possibly say to that? That it wasn’t that easy. That when you became a grown up, you couldn’t just follow shooting stars. You had to consider other people’s needs.
“Dr Dickenson is an excellent physicist and I’m very happy for him. Shall we continue?
“This is a year one class, so I’ll be taking you through the basics.” Her voice sounded flat to her own ears, but she couldn’t be bothered injecting the requisite enthusiasm. “This class is about maths. We are going to be looking at readouts from radio telescope. You will not see a supernova or a black hole. You will see pages and pages of numbers and we will be discussing whether they are all the same or not. That’s applied theoretical physics. And if you stick around for the rest of your university career, I might let you run some numbers yourself.”
The room had gone totally silent. The real students were busily taking notes, planning their schedules. They’d be here next week, ready to get on with it. The others, near the back, were already packing their bags. She’d receive apologetic emails from them tomorrow morning.
The girl in the front row was sitting back in her seat, looking at the board, the desk, anything but her. She wasn’t going to be one of the ones who stayed after all. That was fine. Better to know now.
She clicked her computer for the next slide and ploughed on with the term outline.
There was one face in the fifth row whose enthusiasm hadn’t dimmed. All the faces around him were turned away but he kept eye contact. He was leaning back in his chair, completely relaxed. It was hard to see past the strong lights, but it looked like he was smirking. Maybe a mature student? But he didn’t have the serious, hungry look of a mature student. In fact, he looked tickled. When scraping noises from the back indicated the bravest students slinking out of the lecture theatre doors without waiting for the class to end, he raised his paper coffee cup in a silent salute.
She frowned at him and turned her back to sketch out her starting points on the white board.
At the end of the hour, she packed up her bag and wiped down the board methodically to give the worried students a chance to make their escape. Tomorrow the “I’m sorry, but” emails would come drifting in. They tended not to want to do it to her face. She didn’t mind.
She turned her phone back on and it pinged. A text from Jess. Hey sis, I can’t write these vows! I’ve officially failed at being romantic. Send me the ones you wrote - they were so beautiful. Promise not to plagiarise… too much. Thx. Love you.
She couldn’t help but smile. She was probably going to end up writing them for her.
As she put her phone back in her bag her hands brushed the two ominous brown envelopes printed in red ink that had been on the mat this morning. She tried to ignore them, but she already knew they were going to ruin her day. Why couldn’t she have been allowed to wait until she got home to deal with this crap?
The walk back to the office would take her across the Meadows, a beautiful field of green criss-crossed with cherry trees and filled with joggers, laughing children, and leaping dogs. But it took her too close for comfort to her beautiful flat. Her tiny, shabby, mortgage-free flat. Small rooms with huge windows, the flooding light. It was the right choice selling it to start Chris’ dream business. It wasn’t his fault there was a downturn in the economy. It could have happened to anyone.
Being angry wasn’t achieving anything. She had to forgive and forget. They could fix this. She could fix this. The alternative was unacceptable. Within a lifetime, three years of hell is a small price to pay for a marriage. Right?
From the windows she could see the Meadows were awash with bright sunshine. She liked it better when it was raining.
It dawned on her that it had got quiet, so she allowed herself to turn around. The smirking man was still sitting in his seat.
“I liked the class,” he said. “Very off-putting.”
She snapped her laptop shut without bothering to reply and made for the door. He stood up and matched her pace to the end of the row.
Now that he was standing, and she was out of the glare of the lecture hall lights, she saw he was dressed in a very expensive suit. He wasn’t much taller than her, but he stood straight, like he was daring gravity to challenge him. He was smiling at her in a knowing fashion.
“Can I help you with something?” she said.
“I want to know everything you know about alternate universes.” That was supposed to sound charming, she thought.
She kept walking. “That would take a while.”
He fell into step beside her. “I have time.”
As they emerged onto the Quad a beam of sunlight lit up his face and danced on his burnished hair. His eyes were the most incredible mix of green and blue. In the sunlight they flashed like a peacock’s wing. “I was interested in what you were saying about the battle between string theory and super gravity. How many dimensions do you think they need to make it work? I was wondering if you could expand on it for me. Buy you a coffee?” His tone implied that it was unimaginable that she might say no.
“No.”
But her stomach twisted with guilt. It wasn’t his fault she was angry. It wasn’t his fault he looked entirely relaxed and at home on this beautiful day. She tried to inject some professionalism into her tone. “My office hours are posted on my door. I’m afraid I can’t help outside of those times.”
“I’m not a student, Professor.”
“And I’m not a Professor, Mr?”
“I’m Jack Shepherd. Jack.”
“Mr Shepherd, Dr Howden is fine. If you are not a student, then who are you?”
“A writer.”
“Of what?”
“Parables. Fables. Truths that the world is not yet ready for.” He waved his hands theatrically. But his eyes were twinkling. He was taking the piss out of himself.
He was clearly used to getting his way. Charming and probably rich from the look of the clothes. This self-deprecating manner, suggesting humility about his own brilliance, probably helped him schmooze his way into anything and anywhere.
“I’m sorry but I don’t have the time,” she said.
“I’ll pay you. Handsomely.”
Her heart thumped. “Excuse me?”
“A consultancy fee. To help me with research for my next book. Name your price.”
She stared at his winning smile and cocky stance. She so wanted to tell him to go to hell. That she couldn’t be bought. But she didn’t have that luxury. She stalled. “Are you published? Have I heard of you?”
“Would it make a difference if I was?”
“It might.”
“Alright.” He inclined his head graciously. “I’ll see you in another time and space.” He turned to go.
“Where are you going?” He was already ten steps away. “Wait, what do you mean by handsomely?” A trio of passing students turned to look at her and she died a little inside.
He had already stopped, with his back to her, completely still.
She walked up behind him. “Mr Shepherd?”
“Shame I can’t get famous in an afternoon.”
She laughed. He didn’t. She stopped.
Should she say something? The charm was easier to deal with. Then he looked back around, and his eyes were smiling again, as if that moment of stillness had never happened. “Trans-dimensional portals.”
“Sorry, what did you say?”
“Trans-dimensional portals. I understand the theory, but I need to understand how that would work in practice. I’ve spoken to your colleagues and they all say that you are the only one who can help me. I’m running out of time and I can pay you whatever you want.”
“Whatever I want?”
“Whatever you want.”
She pushed her uncomfortable feelings aside. The only defence here was a good offence.
“Ok.” She reached into her bag. “My standard consultancy fee is by the hour. No haggling over the time I’m taking. Send me your questions and I’ll take a look at them this week. Come to my office next Thursday at three. We can go through them and come up with a strategy.”
He grinned a sudden mega-watt smile. “Dr Howden, I will see you next Thursday.”
He turned and walked away with a jaunty step, like he didn’t have a care in the world. She watched him go. Maybe a coffee wouldn’t have been so awful.
No, back to the real world.
To get to her office she had to go past Simon’s.
“Ali,” he shouted as she went past.
“Yes?” She stuck her head around the door, only her shoulders showing to him. Surely a sign that she had to get on.
“Good lecture?”
“Fine, thanks. Good crowd for a Friday. You? Many takers for the wonderful world of string theory?”
“I’m going to need a bigger lecture hall. Thanks to the wonderful world of financial modelling, I’m very popular.”
“And still wrong,” she said. His grin was undaunted as usual. “You can have mine.”
“Really? What about you?”
“I’m happy to swap. You’ve got all the fancy sponsors. May as well show them off properly.”
“Speaking of which, Morgan Stanley are doing a weekend away in Jersey. Partners welcome. Sue is already booking the flights. There’s loads of space. Want to come?”
Her heart sank. They could never afford the flights, but she couldn’t say that because she earned the same as Simon. How on earth to explain? Simon was watching her expectantly. She should be looking excited. She’d come up with some lame excuse later. Again. She smiled brightly, pushing an excited sparkle into her eyes. “What a wonderful idea! When?”
“May 15th.”
“May. Ok. Well, let’s say provisionally yes and I’ll check with Chris.”
“Great.”
“Bye, Simon. Say hi to Sue for me.”
“Say hi yourself. She’s still chasing you about that girls’ night tonight.”
She swallowed back the shame. “I’ll get back to her right now.”
She walked back down the corridor, ears burning from another lie.
I received a review copy of this book and am leaving an honest review of my own free will.
I wanted to enjoy this book. I love time travel, parallel universe and alternate universe stories. However, this book didn’t meet my expectations.
The title and cover suggest sci-fi, but the book was listed as women’s fiction. I expected sci-fi with a women’s fiction edge. However, this book lacks the necessary substance and detail to fit into sci-fi, and despite a promising first chapter it deteriorates into a fairly predictable romance novel. I dislike romance novels and would not choose to read one, and I feel that this book is misrepresented through its cover, title and stated genre. There was none of the character development and conflict required of a women’s fiction novel.
Alison, the protagonist is a wishy-washy woman, purportedly an internationally successful doctor of physics and lecturer, but we see none of her strength and character. She mopes around after a bad relationship, travelling through alternate universes not with the mind of a brilliant scientist, but of a drippy woman. It didn’t hold true to me. I don’t think for one moment that an eminent physicist that can suddenly go through doors to other universes would waste her time trying to fix a broken relationship. The secrets of the universe are before her. I couldn’t believe in her as a character at all.
There was a lot of head hopping, which I find distracting. I got lost at times trying to work out where the characters were, who I was meant to be following and who was thinking what.
There were a handful of formatting, grammatical errors and typos. Not an excessive amount, but still
noticeable.
if you want to read a fluffy romance with the slightest splash of time travel and alternate universes then you might like this book. If you can overlook the poor character development, that is. There are better books with this theme that you would probably enjoy more.