Audrey Niffenegger is bringing readers back to the world of The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Hanover Square announced in a news release that it will publish Life Out of Order, a follow-up to the author’s bestselling debut novel, in the fall. It calls the novel “at once intimate and sweeping.”
The Time Traveler’s Wife, published in 2003 by MacAdam/Cage, told the story of the relationship between Henry DeTamble, a librarian who has a condition that causes him to randomly travel through time, and Clare Abshire, a wealthy artist. A critic for Kirkus wrote of the novel, “Mainstreamed time-travel romance, cleverly executed and tastefully furnished if occasionally overwrought: a first from fine newcomer Niffenegger.”
The novel was adapted into a 2009 film starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams, a 2022 television series with Theo James and Rose Leslie, and a stage musical that premiered in Chester, England, in 2022.
Life Out of Order will follow Alba DeTamble, Henry’s daughter, who has inherited his time-traveling condition and must keep future events secret from her group of artist and activist friends. “Life Out of Order is a kaleidoscopic tale of love, resilience, and hope amid our fractured world where time itself is the greatest adversary,” Hanover Square says.
Niffenegger said in a statement, “Alba’s story has been a long time coming; when I began, in 2012, her dystopian world seemed far from mine. As I wrote through the pandemic and through societal upheaval, our worlds merged. Life Out of Order has been an all-consuming book for me; I will miss living in it, but I am happy to offer it to readers, at last.”
Life Out of Order is scheduled for publication on Oct. 27.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
