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  • Published: 21 April 2020
  • ISBN: 9781760899905
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $24.99

A Lifetime of Impossible Days




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

'Prepare to immerse yourself in wonder, childish delight and dark, dark trauma in this unique novel from a new and important Australian literary voice' Australian Women's Weekly

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

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

'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

  • Published: 21 April 2020
  • ISBN: 9781760899905
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $24.99

About the author

Tabitha Bird

Tabitha Bird is a writer and poet who lives and works in the rural township of Boonah, Queensland. By day Tabitha may be found painting, working on her next book or with her husband, three beautiful boys and Chihuahua.

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Praise for A Lifetime of Impossible Days

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

Cass Moriarty

Prepare to immerse yourself in wonder, childish delight and dark, dark trauma in this unique novel from a new and important Australian literary voice.

Australian Women's Weekly

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

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

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Letters to my younger selves

A Lifetime of Impossible Days author, Tabitha Bird, pens letters to her five, fifteen and twenty-five-year-old selves.

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The medicine of book friends

Four books that left their mark on A Lifetime of Impossible Days author Tabitha Bird.

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On the wings of words

Tabitha Bird celebrates the magical healing powers of writing.

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A Lifetime of Impossible Days book club notes

Treat your book club to Tabitha Bird’s magical, one-of-a-kind debut.