The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

• Born: June 13, 1963
• Birthplace: South Haven, Michigan

First published: 2003

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Science fiction

Time of plot: 1960s–2000s

Locale: Chicago, Illinois; South Haven, Michigan

Principal Characters

Henry DeTamble, a man who involuntarily travels in time

Clare Abshire DeTamble, his wife

Alba DeTamble, their daughter

Annette Lyn Robinson, Henry’s mother

Richard DeTamble, Henry’s father

Jan "Gomez" Gomolinski, Clare’s friend and sometime lover

Charisse Bonavant, Clare’s best friend

David Kendrick, Henry’s doctor

Ingrid Carmichel, Henry’s ex-girlfriend

The Story

Although Henry DeTamble has been involuntarily traveling through time since he was a child, he is astonished, at age twenty-eight, when the twenty-year-old Clare Abshire appears in the library where he works, claiming that she has known him since she was six years old, even though he has never seen her before. Henry quickly understands that a future version of himself has traveled many times to Clare’s past. Clare is ecstatic that she and Henry are finally meeting in their mutual present, having known since childhood that he would be her eventual husband.

Although Henry and Clare’s present-day romance, courtship, and marriage proceed in a roughly linear manner for the reader, this plot thread is interwoven with many jumps in time, alternately narrated by Henry and Clare as they encounter each other at different ages and as Henry visits pivotal moments from his past and not-yet-experienced points in his future. In particular, he is often forced to relive the car crash that killed his mother when he was five years old, which he survived precisely because he time traveled away from it at the critical moment. The adult Henry also encounters himself many times as a child and in fact teaches his younger self how to find or steal clothing, money, and food, since time travel leaves him naked and vulnerable.

During their courtship, Clare introduces Henry to her friends and family, many of whom experience the odd sensation that they have seen Henry somewhere before. When Henry meets Clare’s friends Charisse and Gomez, Gomez tries to warn Clare away from Henry, whom he knows to have a reputation for fighting and womanizing. Clare realizes that Henry is no longer that person now that they have met in their present timelines. Henry simply tells Gomez about his time traveling, because he has already experienced the event in which he vanishes in front of Gomez, and he knows that Gomez will have no choice but to believe him. Although Gomez eventually accepts Clare and Henry’s relationship, he is still partly in love with Clare himself and does not understand her willingness to spend her life waiting for Henry.

Early in Clare and Henry’s marriage, Clare decides that she wants to have a baby, in part to have a tangible reminder of Henry during the times he unwillingly abandons her. They seek out David Kendrick, a doctor and geneticist, whom a future Henry has told them will be able to help. Dr. Kendrick confirms that Henry’s time traveling is genetically triggered and successfully replicates the condition in laboratory mice. His work explains why Clare keeps having miscarriages. Clare finally has a successful pregnancy, but just a few weeks before their daughter, Alba, is born, Henry jumps through time and meets a ten-year-old Alba, who matter-of-factly tells him that she is also a CDP, or chrono-displaced person. Although he is overjoyed to meet Alba, Henry is distraught to learn that he will die when she is five years old, something he knows from experience he will be unable to change.

As Henry moves toward his unavoidable fate, he becomes more thoughtful and emotionally distant, and two potential time-travel events that he has always feared come to fruition. In one, Henry time travels to the library where he works and finds himself trapped inside an enclosed space in a stairwell that has no way in or out. Because he has no control over when he will jump back, he is stuck for several hours and is discovered by his coworkers for the first time. The other event is far more serious, as Henry appears outside during a brutal Chicago winter with no clothing. He manages to call his present-day self for help, but it is too late; when he returns to his own time, the frostbite damage is so great that both of his feet must be amputated, vastly increasing his potential vulnerability during any future time-travel events.

Sensing that the end is near, Henry lets Clare talk him into giving a New Year’s Eve party, realizing that it will be his chance to say goodbye to his friends and family. During the party, Henry time travels one last time to Clare’s childhood home, appearing in the woods just as Clare’s father and brother take aim while deer hunting. Henry is fatally wounded, but he sees another version of himself observing the scene and then comforting a confused thirteen-year-old Clare, who has been awakened by the noise but who has not seen what actually happened. In the present timeline, Henry reappears at the party only to die from his wound. Shortly thereafter, Clare finds a letter from Henry telling her he will see her one last time as an old woman. The novel ends with Clare as that old woman, waiting for Henry to appear.

Bibliography

Beronä, David A. Rev. of The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger. Library Journal 15 Aug. 2003: 134. Print.

Gaztambide, Elsa. Rev. of The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger. Booklist 1 Sep. 2003: 59. Print.

Merritt, Stephanie. "A Modern Fairy Tale." Rev. of The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger. New Statesman 19 Jan. 2004: 52–53. Print.

Papinchak, Robert Allen. "Audrey Niffenegger." Writer Jul. 2010: 50. Print.

Rev. of The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger. Kirkus Reviews 1 Aug. 2003: 985. Print.

Rev. of The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger. Publishers Weekly 4 Aug. 2003: 55. Print.