Introduction

Outlander meets Birdsong is this haunting debut timeslip novel, where a strange twist of fate connects a soldier fighting in the First World War and a young woman living in modern-day England.

*Shortlisted for the Eharmony/Orion Write Your Own Love Story Prize 2018/19

A strange twist of fate connects two troubled souls: a British soldier fighting in WW1 and a young woman wrongly consigned to a mental hospital in modern-day England. A timeslip love story, and at the same time an unflinching portrait of the futility and horrors of war – and the extremes human souls can endure. BTM is a meditation on the themes of mental illness, war, identity and art. But most of all it’s a sonnet to the transformative power of love.

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Excerpt

Chapter One
Coldbrook Hall Military Hospital, Sussex, England, August 1916
Footsteps, then a rap at the door. Lying in bed, Robert jumped. Was there really someone there or was he dreaming? He could barely tell if he was asleep or awake any more.
There was a painful swell of yellow-grey light, and he felt his pupils contract. Ah, so he was definitely awake then. The light receded as the door closed behind whoever had come in. A doctor, by the sound of the brisk footfall and confident knock. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. How does the reality of Robert’s war experience compare with what he initially thought it would be?
2. Do you think young people from the 21st-century would be less likely to be swayed by ideas of duty and nationalism than the World War I generation, if there were to be a war now?
3. Do you believe that Louisa really met up with Robert and went back in time, or was she hallucinating?
4. How easy do you think it is for a psychiatrist to bring an objective scientific approach to bear on a patient undergoing a very subjective mental illness experience?
5. Do you think there is any truth in the concept of past lives and reincarnation?

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