“Timepiece” by Barbara Avon

Can you trick Time? What if magic existed and people could manipulate time as they pleased to suit their needs? Would it solve their problems?

Barbara Avon gives answers to these questions. And the essence of these answers is that no matter where – or to when – one goes, one can’t escape their own self. Even when you cross the ocean trying to leave something behind, you often realise that the only thing you’ve left is the land. Your true self always travels with you. There are things that don’t succumb even to magic.

Matthew Winters escapes the Great Depression by taking a mysterious timepiece from Henry, the thrift store owner. He even persuades his beautiful wife Anna to run away with him, leaving everything and everyone she loves behind. Still, Matthew can’t escape something intangible but powerful – something that makes him who he is. By running away from one trouble, Matthew dooms himself to endless others.

With her lyrical prose, the author draws a dark and haunting picture of two people losing themselves in the net of lies and restrained emotions. Matthew and Anna have only each other. But for Anna, her husband is the one who reminds her of her biggest loss. She can’t forget what she has lost, and it doesn’t let both of them start looking for something new that might heal them.

“Timepiece” is a fascinating read. With every page, it pulled me deeper and deeper into the darkness of its characters’ struggling souls. I tried to imagine how it would feel to travel in time, knowing that you can’t ever go back to your previous life. Would the fleeting moment of excitement be worth the long stretch of life filled with regrets?