A Lifetime of Impossible Days by Tabitha Bird

Tabitha Bird’s stunning debut is a magical, life-affirming novel about heartbreak, healing and learning to forgive yourself.

‘Every so often a book comes along that reaffirms the glory and beauty of life. Tabitha Bird has gifted us this wonder’ Cass Moriarty

'A magical tale of healing . . . it's sure to cast a spell over readers' Mindfood magazine

Meet Willa Waters, aged 8 . . . 33 . . . and 93.

On one impossible day in 1965, eight-year-old Willa receives a mysterious box containing a jar of water and the instruction: ‘One ocean: plant in the backyard.’ So she does - and somehow creates an extraordinary time slip that allows her to visit her future selves.

On one impossible day in 1990, Willa is 33 and a mother-of-two when her childhood self magically appears in her backyard. But she’s also a woman haunted by memories of her dark past – and is on the brink of a decision that will have tragic repercussions . . .

On one impossible day in 2050, Willa is a silver-haired, gumboot-loving 93-year-old whose memory is fading fast. Yet she knows there’s something she has to remember, a warning she must give her past selves about a terrible event in 1990. If only she could recall what it was.

Can the three Willas come together, to heal their past and save their future, before it’s too late?

'A wonderful debut . . . An uplifting story about the power of forgiveness, the ability to heal and the magical idea of being able to travel back in time to fix a broken future.' Good Reading Magazine

'A courageous and magical debut novel that reminds us that while we can’t change events from our past, we do have the power to change the story we tell ourselves about them.' Sally Piper

Tabitha Bird

Reviews

“ The magical three Willas at the heart of this story cast a spell over readers ... This is a courageous and magical debut novel that reminds us that while we can’t change events from our past, we do have the power to change the story we tell ourselves about them. ”

Sally Piper, author of The Geography of Friendship

“ Every so often a book comes along that reaffirms the glory and beauty of life. Tabitha Bird has gifted us this wonder. ”

Cass Moriarty

“ A wonderful debut . . . An uplifting story about the power of forgiveness, the ability to heal and the magical idea of being able to travel back in time to fix a broken future. ”

Good Reading

“ Bird weaves her stories with skill, scattering memories like shells across the pages. This is a tale about listening to your inner child to save your grown-up soul. ”

Sunday Times, Perth

Trade Paperback

9780143792260

June 4, 2019

Viking

416 pages

RRP $32.99
Online retailers
Or

Find your local bookstore at booksellers.org.au
EBook

9781760144395

June 4, 2019

Penguin eBooks

416 pages
Online retailers

Extract

Chapter One

2050

Willa Waters, aged 93

Catawampus. A word I’ve decided to take a real shine to in my old age. I have a new notebook titled Things I Am Sure of that was mailed to me a few days ago. The word of the day was written inside the front cover: Catawampus (adjective): Awry or askew.