BEGIN AGAIN

A 36-year-old London woman dies and finds herself with the opportunity to revisit five crossroad moments in her life to see what might have been.

Frankie McKenzie is a disappointment to herself. Working for a tabloid where she writes a weekly column poking fun at celebrities’ normal lives and gaffes, she’s happily single and has no interest in getting married, yet judges herself harshly for her choices. She’s unhappy with her lack of drive to accomplish anything, her lack of positive thinking, her feelings of abandonment from her divorced parents, and her paired-off and/or more settled friends Alice, Tom, and Priya. The night she dies—her birthday—she’s set up on a blind date with a very nice man, but she sneaks away because she just can’t fathom trying yet again to find someone to serve as her plus-one. She stops at her local kebab shop on the way home, but at the door she slips, hits her head, and dies. After that, she arrives at The Station, where she’s told she’s one of the lucky ones who will be able to revisit—for 24 hours—five versions of her life that might have unfolded after key decisions. Once she’s done that, she can decide to rejoin one of them or go forward to The Final Destination. Author Acton has written a surprisingly charming story that shows how what-ifs don’t have to pen a person in, and everyone can write the story of their future with every choice they make.

A thoughtful exploration of how fear ties people to the past, but shouldn’t, and how small choices can lead to big changes.