Nancy Moser
Time Lottery (2002)
Author: Nancy Moser
Genre: Science Fiction (Time Travel)/Christian
Plot Summary:
Three people are chosen at random by the Time Travel Corporation (TTC) to participate in the Time Lottery, in which they will get to go back to a point in their own lives that they would like to change. None of these changes will have any effect on anyone else in the world - the winners will actually be making more of a mental journey back in time, into their own personal alternate reality, or Alternity. While they are in their own pasts, they will remember nothing of their futures, until a crucial moment at the end, when they must decide if they will stay in their Alternities or go back to their old lives. The winners of the Time Lottery are Phoebe Thurgood, Cheryl Nickolby, and Roosevelt Hazen. Phoebe is married to a well-off, domineering man and decides to see what her life might have been like if she had stood up to him when they'd first met. Cheryl is a successful doctor who has had lots of lovers throughout her life, but no one she's felt committed to. She decides
to see what would have happened if she'd "gone good" in high school and started going steady with nice, handsome Jake. Roosevelt's place is secretly taken by Leon, a homeless con man who accidentally kills the former preacher. Leon goes back to the time when he first met Roosevelt and conned him out of his entire savings, to see if things can turn out better. Throughout the book, it becomes apparent that these people's participation in the Time Lottery was not entirely coincidental, as each of their paths cross in the different Alternities. Each person has to decide if they will stay in their Alternity, allowing their bodies to die in their original realities, or go back to their old lives. In the present, Mac, who is in charge of marketing for the TTC, must figure out what to do as the three winners' pasts begin to draw a media circus - Cheryl's many lovers, the possibility that "Roosevelt" may not be who he says he is, and Phoebe's greedy husband's money problems. SPOILER: Each character learns more about what they are really capable of and finds or rediscovers God in their own way. Cheryl discovers God with the help of a high school friend and goes back to her old life after deciding she didn't like the person she became in her Alternity; there is the potential for a good relationshiop between her and Mac. Phoebe renews her faith in God and gives up a budding romance in her Alternity in order to go back to her family, for better or for worse - fortunately for her, her husband ends up wanting a divorce and she meets the man she'd started to care for in her Alternity again. Leon stays - although he's still a little wary of faith, Roosevelt and the other townspeople help Leon discover the good man within himself.
Geographical Setting: Kansas City; Boulder, Colorado; Lincoln, Nebraska; Hendersonville, Tennessee
Time Period: present day (2002); 1962; 1969; 1973
Series: Time Travel series, Book 1
Appeal Characteristics:
Part of the appeal of this 2003 Christy Award Winner is its Christian aspects. Although some objectional things happen, such as a rape and two murders, none of this is described in detail. Also, Christianity and God play a big role in the various characters' final decisions. For most of the book, Moser's Christian messages are fairly implicit, although each chapter does begin with a Bible quote and several characters begin quoting the Bible more frequently by the end. Another main draw of this book is its strong, detailed, and believable characterizations. The time travel aspect of the book allows readers to learn about the characters both in the present and in the past, and the intersections between the characters' lives reveals even more about them. In order to focus more deeply on the characters, Moser writes the story from several points of view, and the storyline switches between these views, as well as the various times, often. In the present, portions of the story are told from Mac and Phoebe's husband's perspectives. In the past, Cheryl, Phoebe, and Leon's points of view are used. Because of the book's focus on characterization, it is more engrossing than fast-paced, although the story does get very suspenseful near the end, when the characters reach the point where they must decide if they will stay in their Alternities or go back to their old lives. Readers who don't like lots of scientific jargon will appreciate this book, since Moser does not focus on the time travel aspect of the story a great deal - it's really just the vehicle through which the characters are allowed to grow and learn more about themselves.
Read-alikes: Readers who liked this book may want to try Second Time Around by Nancy Moser, the second book in the Time Travel series. In this book, there are three new winners of the Time Lottery, and readers will get find out more about how Cheryl and Mac's relationship is doing. Moser's Crossroads, a contemporary novel in which the lives of various characters intersect, is also a suggested read. Readers who would like another book with strong characterization and a Christian focus may want to try Lullaby by Jane Orcutt. This book deals with prolife themes, although, like Moser, Orcutt manages not to sermonize. The story centers on the pregnant 15-year-old Merrilee, a rape victim, and the wealthy couple struggling with infertility that she chooses as her baby's adoptive parents. Another book readers may want to try if they liked Moser's interesting characters, wanted more of an emphasis on suspense, and wanted to read another series is Wand
a L. Dyson's Abduction (Johnson/Shefford Series, Book 1), in which a mother finds her seven-month-old baby stolen during the night and then becomes a suspect after her husband disappears as well. The mother, Karen, finds herself doubting God in much the same way as Moser's Mac. Another book with a contemporary setting, Christian aspects, and believably flawed characters is Karen Kingsbury's When Joy Came to Stay, which tells the story of successful columnist Maggie Stovall, whose life starts to unravel as her depression gets to be too much for her. For readers who would like another Christian science fiction book with a contemporary setting and well-developed characters, Angela Elwell Hunt's The Pearl may work. In this book, Steve and Diana Sheldon must decide what to do after their five-year-old son is killed in an accident and they have the option of cloning him. As in Moser's book, the characters are given the option of "undoing" something that h
as gone wrong in their lives and must rely on their faith to help them make the right decision and keep their lives from further disintegrating.
Red Flags: There are two murders - blood is mentioned but there is no further detail; Roosevelt, the preacher, once killed a man in self-defense; a character is raped, but the scene is only mentioned, not described |top|
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