In Andrew Sean Greer's contemplative, reflective fourth novel, The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells, narrator Greta, a woman in her 30s, tells us early on that she longs to live "in any time but this one"--1985. Her beloved gay brother, Felix, has died of AIDS, and Nathan, her boyfriend of 10 years, has left her for another woman. Distraught and depressed, she turns to electroconvulsive therapy treatments. And then, like Dorothy clicking her magic shoes, Greta intones, "I wish it not to have happened.... Any time but this one," and she's gone.
It's October 1918. Felix, still gay and deeply closeted, is alive; Greta's married to Nathan, but he's at war. This world is kinder, gentler--idyllic, even. She loves it here and thinks: "The impossible happens once to each of us." Yet, just as in The Confessions of Max Tivoli, in which Greer lets Max woo his love in three time periods, here, too, he gives Greta more than one chance at the impossible.
Waking up one day, she discovers that it's November 1941. She's married to Nathan and they have a son. Felix is alive, too. In each period, Greta is always at her home in New York City, aware of being from the future and accepting each of these worlds.
The traveling continues, back and forth, with Greta learning from each visit, trying to make the right choices and the right decisions each "time." Greer's use of time-traveling doesn't dwell on the scientific complexities; this lovely, enchanting novel's focus is on relationships, family, friends and the liabilities of love and loss. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher