When the Day Comes by Gabrielle Meyer

A riveting, time-crossing story about one woman’s fight for her future.

How did I experience this story?

I listened to “When the Day Comes” through my public library’s CloudLibrary. With the price of everything doubling, this is a great way to read or listen to books, and if you can’t physically get to the library, you can still check out books. Another plus: when books circulate through a library program, the staff is more likely to purchase this type of book again. So, if you are reading and listening to Christian books, whether digital or physical, you should soon find more available. If you find that you really enjoy a book or author, you can always purchase the book later to experience it again and support the author.

What genre is “When the Day Comes?”

Historical fiction with a twist. Plus some romance for those interested.

In this first-in-series novel, Libby lives two lives. Two times; two names; two families. Her preferred life centers around the Revolutionary War in 1774 Virginia, but when she falls asleep, she picks up another life in 1914 New York. Despite enjoying the comforts of this future era, she prefers the family and friends of 140 years earlier. What would it be like to live two lives simultaneously?

Not Your Usual Dual Timeline

Some novels are time-travel. Others have one historical setting or travel from present time to past. More and more are following multiple characters through separate timelines. Gabrielle Meyer chooses one character to follow through two historical timelines. Instead of starting in one and getting transported to the other, she lives each day in a different century. Sleep is her time machine, and she’s unable to choose if she will take the trip. At least, not until she turns 21. On her 21st birthday, she must decide to either stay in the 1700s or face the 1900s. Is this a blessing or a curse?

Review and a few Spoilers

Libby’s 1774 era mother passed this time-crosser gift to her. In Williamsburg, Virginia, her family struggles to make ends meet after her father’s death. Libby loves the printing press that he ran, and she’s determined to carry on his legacy. With help from an upper-class man who also captures her heart, she secures a public printing license from the House of Burgesses. This brings more business to her small business and helps her provide for her mother and sisters. Danger threatens her livelihood when she also prints patriot papers. Threatened with treason, she’s undaunted because she knows the colonies will soon establish their own country, where she lives when she goes to sleep.

In 1914, Libby’s social status makes her a well-sought-after bride. Her mother (nothing like her 1774 mother) plans to marry her daughter into British nobility. Conflicting emotions threaten to undo her. One morning, she’s fighting the British. The next, she’s forced into an alliance with them. Her passions are ignored by most of those around her, and she determines to choose her 1774 life when she comes of age. When she’s forced into an unwanted marriage, she accepts that she can’t have the life she wanted. Now she must stay in the 1900s for the child she’s carrying. While at her new home in England, she discovers a book that lists the participants of the American War of Independence and what happened to them. For months, she resists the urge to read them, but as her birthday draws closer she relents. Terrible words greet her. She’s been warned not to do anything that could change history; it will forfeit her chance to choose her timeline. Yet, she knows that she must stay in this time. So, she breaks the rules to save a life.

Depression faces her the next morning when she sacrifices her last few months with her mother and sisters only to find that her choice changed nothing. Her only bright spot is her baby boy. Then word arrives that her husband died during the Great War. She returns to New York but promises to prepare her son to take over his father’s estates when he’s old enough. Free of domination, she makes her own decisions of where to go, who to see, and what to support. She advocates for women’s right to vote and encourages education. Through one meeting, she’s blessed with an opportunity to return to Williamsburg, even though everyone she knew has been gone for a century. Through the preservation of the nearby university, she’s able to learn about her family’s survival during the Revolutionary War and their joyous lives afterwards. She even meets the love of her life, which banishes any darkness that had managed to cling to her as she started living again.

Is “When the Day Comes” worth reading?

This new twist on time-travel kept me riveted from the opening through the postscript. It’s worth every moment spent in the story. Time is precious. Once it’s gone, there’s no way to gain more. “When the Day Comes” by Gabrielle Meyer meets the requirements for consuming my time.

Have you read When the Day Comes?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments.