Before You Go

If you’re looking for a good read, get down to Waterstones and buy Before You Go, the fine first novel from Berkhamsted Living editor Clare Swatman.

It is a tale of love, loss and redemption. Zoe and Ed are long-time sweethearts who have had their ups and downs. Their marriage is going through a rocky patch when Ed, setting out for work on his bicycle once morning, is killed in a traffic accident. Zoe’s distress is exacerbated by her feelings of guilt over the sour note on which she and her husband parted on that fateful morning. She too suffers an accident and is knocked out. When she regains consciousness it’s as a young undergraduate about (once again) to meet Ed for the first time. The Back to the Future law of time-travel is that you try to avoid tampering with anything that will alter the future. Zoe deliberately sets out to flout this convention; from her point of view, being obliged to relive the past gives her an opportunity to modify it, in particular to change her relationship with Ed in the hope of heading off fate.

The hardback is on sale at £12.99. Before You Go is also available in ebook and audio book formats from Internet-based suppliers.