Happy Release Day!
Congratulation Audrey
on the release today of
Life Out of Order!
Life Out of Order by Audrey Niffenegger
Time Travel, Fiction, 560 pages
Published October 6, 2026 by Knopf Canada
Alba DeTamble has never lived a life in order. Born with the same rare Chrono-Displacement Disorder as her father, Henry DeTamble, Alba is an involuntary time traveler: She slips unpredictably through decades, carrying the weight of a future she can witness but cannot change. Yet she strives to maintain a normal life: As a gifted violinist, Alba finds refuge in her music, as well as in her tight-knit community of artists and activists who fight to take care of each other in an increasingly unstable world.
As she dips in and out of time, Alba is haunted by secrets she must keep from those she loves most, including Zach, her safe, supportive anchor in the chaos. Her journey takes her from the riot-torn Chicago streets to the eerie, timeless “Yellow House” to the digital corridors of the Museum of Lost Souls, a virtual sanctuary of forgotten memories and lost artifacts.
With every leap through the years, Alba is forced to reckon with the choices that define her, the people she cannot bear to lose, and the question that haunts every time traveler: Can you ever truly belong to the present?
My thoughts about Life Out of Order ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)
First lines—"All revolutions go down in history, yet history does not fill up; the rivers of revolution return from whence they came, only to flow again."
The Time Traveler's Wife is one of my all-time favorite books, if not my favorite. It's one of only a few books that I have read multiple times, which is rare for me. I can't believe it was first published in 2003. That's twenty-three years ago! I was so excited when I saw that Ms. Niffenegger was coming out with a sequel.
Life Out of Order is the story of Alba, the time traveling daughter of Henry and Clare. Through the jumps in time like her father experienced, we get to catch up with the family and get a little peek into what the future might be like. Time traveling has become a known and accepted thing but Alba still runs into issues with the past, the present, and the future.
I loved that we were able to visit this family again and go through the emotional turmoil, and the love, that they experienced. Scenes that made me tear up in TTTW also made me tear up again in LOOO, even though I knew they were coming.
Like I said, I absolutely loved The Time Traveler's Wife and I now I love Life Out of Order. Both books will have special places on my bookshelf. I highly recommend them both.
I received an eARC of Life Out of Order and this is my honest opinion.
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About the author
Audrey Niffenegger (born June 13, 1963 in South Haven, Michigan) is a writer and artist. She is also a professor in the MFA Creative Writing Program at Columbia College Chicago.
Niffenegger's debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife (2003), was a national bestseller. The Time Traveler's Wife is an unconventional love story that centers on a man with a strange genetic disorder that causes him to unpredictably time-travel and his wife, an artist, who has to cope with his constant absence.
Her Fearful Symmetry (2009), Niffenegger's second novel, is set in London's Highgate Cemetery where, during research for the book, Niffenegger acted as a tour guide.
Niffenegger has also published graphic and illustrated novels including: The Adventuress (2006), The Three Incestuous Sisters (2005), The Night Bookmobile (2009), and Raven Girl (2013). Raven Girl was adapted into a ballet by Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor and the Royal Opera House Ballet (London) in 2013.
A mid-career retrospective entitled "Awake in the Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger," was presented by the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington D.C.) in 2013. An accompanying exhibition catalogue examines several themes in Niffenegger's visual art including her explorations of life, mortality, and magic.
Connect with Audrey
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