Author: Tabitha Bird
ISBN:9780143792260
RRP: $32.99
Publication Date: 4 June 2019
Publisher: Penguin RandomHouse
Copy: Courtesy of the Publisher
Sometimes a book comes along that gives you all the feels and you connect to it on such an emotional level as I did with “A Lifetime of Impossible Days” debut novel for Tabitha Bird. There were tears, moments I held my breath, times I just stopped and paused and bouts of sadness for the Willa’s. This book is truly a gift, one that weaves a unique storyline that you just get caught up in, as you enter a magical world with a time slip.
We are introduced to Silver Willa first from the year 2050 a gumboot loving 93 year old, who is starting to lose her memory so keeps a notebook to remember what she needs to do. She is determined to stay out of the nursing home she keeps hearing about. Next is Super Gumboots Willa 8 years old from 1965, fierce and determined, protector of her sister Lottie and owner of Frog Dog. Middle Age Willa is 33 years old in 1990 a mother of two trying to deal with her past hurts. It is through a magical time slip that Super Gum Boots Willa is able to visit her future selves. Silver Willa knows there is something she needs to warn the others but will she remember what she needs to tell them?
In each year of impossible days when the story is being told – 1965, 1990 and 2050 you connect with each of the Willa’s, you feel for them but you know they are one and it is their story they are telling.
When you first start it takes a moment to let your imagination go and be swept up into a tale with a jar of water and instructions to plant an ocean in the backyard but once you do you end up staying up until 1am to finish it. You need to know what the outcome for the Willa’s will be – can they all work together to heal their past hurts to save their futures.
This novel may trigger some as it does deal with childhood trauma but it is told in a way that is sensitive but realistic it shares how trauma can affect people and the impact on their lives. There were times my heart was breaking but I feel it is a story that had to be told, I have more of an understanding now of how these hurts can impact lives and futures.
The novel is dedicated to Tabitha’s Grandmother and as I had recently said goodbye to my last remaining Grandparent my Nanny, I loved these words from the book as I was the eldest grandchild. “She stares off into the night, her eyes misty, and I snuggle her hand. Imagines of my Grammy as a young girl stay with me. She was someone’s daughter. Her name was Grace. Only she never was that, not to me. She’s always been my Grammy. I’m the oldest grandchild so I performed the magic of making her a grandmother, and it has been a most special enchantment between us.”
A lifetime of Impossible Days is released on the 4th of June, I highly recommend you getting your hands on a copy. Thank you to Tabitha and Penguin Random House for the advanced copy of this book. I had been highly anticipating it since I came across Tabitha’s Facebook page many months ago.
This guest review was submitted by Jode, the Beauty and Lace Club member who brought this book to our attention. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us Jode.
You can follow Tabitha Bird on Facebook and her Website.
A Lifetime of Impossible Days is available now through Penguin RandomHouse and where all good books are sold.
Thanks to Penguin RandomHouse 10 of our Beauty and Lace Club members will be reading A Lifetime of Impossible Days so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments below.
Love reading especially on my train commute to and from work. Read most genres but my favorite would be Australian Rural Fiction. Love to support Australian Authors and Beauty and Lace have shown me some fantastic writers that I now read and follow.
A Lifetime of Impossible Days is the most heart-wrenching emotional read I have read in a long time. If you loved The Lost Girls by Jennifer Spence or Before I Let You Go by Kelly Rimmer this book will resonate with you. Super Gumboots Willa is a young girl who has spent her life feeling responsible for her sister and all her mistakes. Silver Willa is also an old lady who is starting to lose her memory but she knows that there are things in her past that must be mended and only Middle Willa can do that. This book is filled with heart-breaking moments and magical realism as the three Willas meet via a time shifting garden that is planted in their backyard. They come together to try desperately to heal the past and mend what is irreparably damaged.
Willa is 93 she needs to go back in time and stop herself from doing something that will change her life forever the only problem is she has dementia and she can’t remember what that thing is..
The story isn’t all heavy there are lots of laugh out loud moments with Willa’s dementia causing funny situations, she has quite some sass and is very cheeky.
Allusions to child abuse, domestic violence and drug use.
Oh my goodness , I had trouble uploading my last review and thought I should check this one uploaded…. it didnt….sorry it is now so late.
THANKYOU for the opportunity to read this fabulous book.
A Life Time Of Impossible Days is an incredibly interesting read. The concept of confronting your personal history, your past and future self and the struggles and issues you have provides a very thought provoking reading experience.
TB creates super gumboots Willa, middle Willa and Silver Willa as the main characters for the novel.
Super gumboots willa wants to fix her broken family, sister, dog and 8 year old self. As a child she faced so many experiences which shaped Willa into the woman she is as middle willa, aged 33 and silver willa, aged 93.
Willa has no understanding of what a normal childhood is like, instead she is fighting to remain carefree, out of reach of her father, picking up the pieces of her mother and sister and hiding out in the backyard mango tree with her frog dog.
Silver willa is grappling with life, dementia, following the rules of her notebook and trying to come to terms with the young willas she feels she has neglected and letdown in her past.
At times I felt the story lines become blurred but overall the story was a beautiful time warp though life, personal neglect and experiences and learning to forgive ourselves.