Time and Other Lies

Yearning for belonging, connection, and an escape from a loveless marriage in which she feels trapped, Gen-Xer Ellie Sorenson finds herself mysteriously transported through time and stuck in the past. As she struggles to navigate life in another century, she quickly adapts to the environment but how can she possibly adapt to the man who's nearly half her age and wants more from her than she's able to give? Ellie Sorenson was in her mid-forties with little to show for her years aside from trauma and unhappiness. When she found herself suddenly thrust 265 years into the past looking half her age, she must learn how to navigate life in pre-industrial America while exploring her strange new regenerative abilities that appear to somehow be related to her travel through time. With no money, no job, and barely more than an academic understanding of life during the French and Indian War, how will she survive? When a strange young woman showed up in his hospital with no family and no history, Captain Thomas Burke found himself taking responsibility for her. It is instantly apparent she has little understanding of the world around them, yet at the same time, she seems to have a deeper understanding of it than anyone else. Obviously hiding something, he wants to know what it is. She's an enigma he wants to solve and finds himself drawn to her even if he can't fully trust her. Can hyper-independent Ellie accept Thomas's help? How can she possibly tell him or anyone else that she's from the future? What will she do if she cannot stay at the military fort in which she's found herself?

When Ellie leaves the fort with Dajoji, it's with the understanding that she's going voluntarily. But does that make her a captive or part of the Native American tribe in which she finds herself? To her surprise, Ellie learns more about life than she ever imagined and finds connections she never thought possible. How long will it last this time before it's taken away from her and what will she do when it inevitably is? Despite finding the new life she thought she wanted, Ellie has a harder time than she expected letting go of her time at Fort Edward. However, to her surprise, she finds something else instead. With the time and space to be herself for the first time ever, her time with the Onöndowa'ga:' teaches her things she never imagined; not only things about living off the land but things about who she is, who she wants to be, and how to open herself up to others. She never planned on leaving the small village that quickly became her home, but when the war ends and the British come for the captives, Ellie finds herself torn from her idyllic life and facing an impossible decision: indentured servitude or marriage. Having sworn she would never be trapped into marriage again, Ellie must now do whatever it takes to survive. After having spent years in the Onöndowa'ga:' village, Ellie must learn how to exist in eighteenth-century Anglo-European society all over again. Having found a new understanding of herself, will it be taken away from her when she's forced into yet another new life?