by Audrey Niffenegger

Clare meets Henry for the first time when she is 6 and he is 36. Henry meets Clare for the first time when he is 28 and she is 20. They marry when Clare is 23 and Henry is 31. Although Clare has known Henry nearly all her life, Henry has only known Clare for three years.

Henry DeTamble is the first person in history diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder. In short, he time travels, thus making it possible for an older version of Henry to visit his "real time" wife when she is still a child, while the 28-year-old version of himself has no idea who she is when he meets her for the first time in October 1991.

This is the premise for The Time Traveler's Wife, a sentimental love story with a twist of time travel. I chose the book, not knowing that it breaks our first and only rule, that a book can't be sad. It's a sad book.

The realistic love story follows the ups and downs of the relationship between Clare and Henry, both interesting and intelligent characters. It's lovely, funny, crazy and sad, as all relationships that have tests of strength are.

Everyone agreed the book was exceedingly well written. Hope found the time travel confusing. Mary Jo and I disliked the ending and hated the thought that Clare waited her remaining 50 years waiting for Henry again. In fact, I was annoyed that she spent much of her life waiting for Henry and thought that he was slightly manipulative in his relationship with Clare. Patrice, Hope and Faith disagreed with this. Patrice felt strongly that the opposite was true and that Clare would have been able to live a full life without Henry. We know these are fictional characters, but the story was very compelling and thought provoking, so we imagined what the life would have been. Overall I think we'd recommend the book. But remember that it is very sad.