Meet Me in Another Life

by Catriona Silvey

Two people. Infinite lifetimes. One impossible choice.

Thora and Santi are strangers in a foreign city when a chance encounter intertwines their fates. At once, they recognize in each other a kindred spirit—someone who shares their insatiable curiosity, who is longing for more in life than the cards they’ve been dealt. Only days later, though, a tragic accident cuts their story short.

But this is only one of the many connections they share. Like satellites trapped in orbit around each other, Thora and Santi are destined to meet again: as a teacher and prodigy student; a caretaker and dying patient; a cynic and a believer. In numerous lives they become friends, colleagues, lovers, and enemies. But as blurred memories and strange patterns compound, Thora and Santi come to a shocking revelation—they must discover the truth of their mysterious attachment before their many lives come to one, final end.

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Audiobook, Contemporary

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 27, 2021

About the author

Catriona Silvey was born in Glasgow and grew up in Perthshire and Derbyshire, which left her with a strange accent and a distrust of flat places. She overcame the latter to do a BA in English at Cambridge, and spent the next few years there working in scientific publishing. After that she moved to Edinburgh and did a PhD in language evolution, in the hope of finding out where all these words came from in the first place.

Following stints in Chicago and back in Cambridge, she returned to Edinburgh, where she lives with her husband, children, and a very peculiar cat. When she's not working as a solutions developer for a software company, she writes science fiction and fantasy. Her debut novel Meet Me in Another Life was published in 2021. It was a #2 Waterstones bestseller, has been translated into eleven languages, and is currently in development as a feature film.

Reviews

[Will Byrnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Santi steps closer as she holds the light up to the gears. 'Think we can fix it?'
Thora puts her weight to one of the gears and tries to shove it backwards. 'No,' she says, after a few seconds. 'I'm afraid time has stopped.'
Santi tries to push the gear in the other direction. Giving up, he steps back. 'I guess it has.' He smiles at her sideways in the flickering light. 'Welcome to forever.'
It's a pretentious thing to say. But Thora has to admit that's exactly how this feels: a moment taken out of time, with no beginning or end.

Imagine you are looking at the screen in a large cinema. There are blips in the image, fleeting, but present. As the film moves on to the next scene, there are more blips, holes in the image, with another image, another, pentimento film, going on behind the up-front film. Another scene on the big screen, with more blip, until the characters in the front film, look at each other and say, “did you see that?” As they slowly become more and more aware that there is something going on in the film behind them, they turn and watch, and their behavior in the front film changes, to take account of the new knowledge.


Catriona Silvey - image from Harper Voyager – photo credit – Hazel Lee

That is what reading Meet Me in Another Life is like. Thora and Santi (Santiago) find themselves in Cologne. (neither is a native) They meet cute, at first, anyway. Until, oopsy, soon after they meet, tragedy. It takes only a short time to know that these two have a special bond, one that will persist through life after life, as one or the other is gone by the end of each of the eighteen chapters, to be reunited in the next. Their ages vary in each iteration. In a few they are the same age. In some, one or the other is older, a little, more than a little, or maybe a lot. Their positions of authority vary as well, parent/child, teacher/student, cop/trainee, patient/caretaker, if there is any such hierarchical relationship between them. They have varying personal relationships, with each other (bf/gf, married, prospects), or he with Heloise, she with Jules. But their passion for learning, for exploration, for science binds them together.

It is clear to us early on that there is a mystery to be solved. Why the recurring lives? Why the disparate ages, roles, and relationships? After a time, it becomes clear to Thora and Santi, too. They begin to realize that they have known each other and remember things from their former lives. Also, there are some consistencies, some places and characters that recur, unchanged.

Recurring elements (Santi’s cat, a tattoo on Thora’s wrist) first gain meaning through repetition, and then become touchstones, triggering inferences for the reader about how the characters have changed and where they might be headed. Once Santi and Thora realize they are trapped in a loop, they (along with the reader) must piece together the clues scattered through the narrative to figure out what might really be going on. - from the LitHub article

The notion that sparked the book is very down to earth. But these are two characters who are reaching for the stars, and Silvey’s solution was very fantasy/sci-fi-ish.

…the question was: can two people ever know each other completely? That led me to the idea of characters who meet again and again in different versions of their lives…I think of the book as an argument: Thora and Santi have very different attitudes to their situation, and that leads them to respond to it in different ways. - from the Deborah Kalb interview

There are obvious similarities to other works that deal in re-iteration. Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life (when Thora refers to herself as the Fox to Santi’s Wolf, is that a nod to that book?) uses the method in consideration of England in the first half or the 20th Century, and looking at the possible branches life might take were one to choose A instead of B, or B instead of C, giving the available choices a go until a desirable path forward is found. Thora, in particular, and Santi try this out, but it is not enough to solve the puzzle. Cloud Atlas is another novel offering common characters in diverse times (and places. This one is all in Cologne). Groundhog Day is the most famous cinematic rom-com loop and Andy Samberg’s Palm Springs gave it a similar go in 2020. 50 First Dates anyone? There is a clear romantic element in this one, too, as Thora and Santi are souls who are clearly meant to be together, (Yeah, I know, some might see them as merely tethered. But my take is that there is greater depth to their connection.) despite the fact that Thora is bisexual and has major hots for a woman, Jules, in many of the stories. Santi and Thora are a couple in others.

Their divergent perspectives offer a fascinating core to their discussions. He is religious, believes in God, an afterlife, and that there is a reason for being, maybe a mission even. Life should make sense. He thinks if he can figure out what God wants of him they can step outside their seemingly endless repetitions. She is an atheist and is having none of that. They talk about faith, determinism, eternity, and plenty more that raises this above the level of a simple entertainment.

Santi has always trusted in fate: that there is one way thing have to go. He isn’t literal enough to believe that the future is written in the stars—he’s doing a PhD in astronomy, after all—but his memories of other skies still unsettle him. The idea that there are other possible configurations for the universe, that God could be running them all in parallel, cuts against everything he believes. The only way he can reconcile what he remembers is to think that it’s a message, one he’s not yet ready to understand. He watches the world like a detective, like a poet, waiting for the meaning to come clear.

Santi’s faith seems more in fate than in the divine, given his inability to allow for a deity capable of managing multiple universes. But the faith he has, of whatever sort, is put to the test, repeatedly.

They struggle to know themselves, as much as they try to understand each other.

”This’ll never work, you know,” she says conversationally.
Santi frowns at her. “Who says?”
“All my exes. Most recently, my ex-girlfriend Jules. She told me when we broke up what my problem is.”
“What’s your problem?”
“I always want somewhere else. I’m never just—content to be where I am.”
He shrugs. “Neither am I.”
She gives him a look. ”What do you mean? You’re, like, Mr Serenity.”
A smile cracks his face. “That may be what it looks like on the outside. But inside, I’m always searching…We’re the same that way.”

As in any good mystery, there are plenty of clues sprinkled throughout the eighteen stories. Making sense of them is the challenge for us readers as much as it is for Thora and Santi. I was only partly successful at sussing out what was going on, even with keeping an excel sheet to track differences and commonalities among the stories. (Don’t judge me!) This is a good thing. Of course, you may be a lot smarter than me and figure it all out early on. That would be too bad. Not knowing, trying to figure it out from the clues provided, was part of the fun.

None of this matters if we do not care about our two leads. Not to worry. While both characters have qualities that raise them well above average, they often find themselves in everyman (and woman) situations and pedestrian lives. Their clear bond with each other is almost a third lead, so strongly does this come across. You will definitely be rooting for them to figure out how to get off what seems an eternal hamster wheel. The novel is as engaging and enjoyable as it is intellectually stimulating.

My only gripe, and it is minor, is that there seemed a bit too much exposition. There is nothing wrong with exposition, but the telling/showing seesaw felt a bit too heavy on one end at times.

Are Thora and Santi two star-crossed lovers or is their connection made in heaven? Only the stars (and the author) know for sure. Allow yourself to be delighted. There is plenty here that can generate that feeling. You may forget about this review, this book, for a while, but I am fairly certain the book, preferably, will turn up again in your life. Try your best. It will be worth your time. Remember.

If God’s test were easy, it would be meaningless.

Review posted – June 11, 2021

Publication dates
----------Hardcover - April 27, 2021
----------Trade paperback - April 26, 2022

If you are looking for a SUMMER BOOK, this is my rec – no-holds-barred, #1 fab beach read, or anywhere read.

The film rights have been optioned by Atlas Entertainment and Pilot Wave, with Gal Gadot to produce and star. I spotted much news coverage of this that was, IMHO, wrong-headed, in portraying the book as an LGBTQ sci-fi novel. Thora is indeed bi-sexual, with more story time with female than male partners, but that is sooooo not what this book is about. We do know that once Hollywood gets its claws on a novel, the end product can diverge dramatically (or even melodramatically) from the source material. This initial coverage is not encouraging. But then, many film-rights options are never exercised. So we, who favor hewing as closely as possible to written source material, are a long way from having to fret over this.



=============================EXTRA STUFF

Links to the author’s personal, GR, and Twitter pages, and her academic site (Silvey has a PhD in language evolution, and has published numerous papers)

Interviews
-----Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb
-----The Royal Institution - Formatted Q/A - thin, but fun

Q/A

I asked Silvey a question on the Ask The Author part of her GR page, to which she offered a response in very short order.

Q - How did your research on the evolution of language manifest in MMiAL?

A - That's an interesting question! My honest answer is "not really"... I did realise after writing the book that there is a linguistically informed way of thinking about time loops, and why they might be appealing to a reader - I wrote about that in an essay on LitHub: https://lithub.com/on-the-counterintu... But if my experience as a researcher influenced the book at all during the writing, it might be in the way Thora and Santi's situation mirrors the strange, lonely-together rootlessness of academics - people who are usually foreigners in the place they're living, brought together by shared passions, using English as a lingua franca but often talking past each other.

Songs/Music
-----Silvey’s Song list for Thora
----- Silvey’s Song list for Santi
-----What Silvey listened to on repeat while working on the book
----------Tom Rosenthal and dodie - Years Years Bears
----------The Mountain Goats - Love Love Love
----------Michael Stipe & Big Red Machine - No Time For Love Like Now

Items of Interest from the author
-----Silvey’s site - Excerpt – Chapter 1 – Welcome To Forever
-----Crimereads - Excerpt - Chapter 8 – 115 - We Are Here
-----Lithub - On the Counterintuitive Appeal of the Literary Time Loop - in this article, linked in Silvey’s Q/A response above, she explains very clearly how time loop narratives work in a literary framework. This is MUST READ material!

Items of Interest
-----Smithsonian - Félicette, the First Cat in Space, Finally Gets a Memorial - referenced in chapter 3, et al
-----Contact - referenced in chapter 7
-----The Odysseum in Cologne

[Nikola · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5/5
Niech Was nie zmyli okładka, która wskazuje na romans. To sci-fi o filozoficznym wydźwięku naszego istnienia 🥹

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost really liked this book, which is somehow more frustrating than if it had been awful. The premise is incredibly intriguing and the writing is beautiful, but in execution it’s basically just two characters having the same argument for 300 pages without actually going anywhere, and then all of a sudden it’s over. The book dragged and dragged and became painfully repetitive, but then the ending felt so rushed and incomplete. I almost feel like she could have brought me around if the ending had been handled differently, but it was so hurried that nothing felt resolved or satisfying in any way.

I actually liked the structure of the book but hated the way it was executed. It’s a borderline short story collection, and as with many short story collections, some of the vignettes were much more compelling and satisfying, and others were just kind of… there. Ultimately, most of their lives were forgettable and it didn’t feel like they learned anything or grew at all as a result of them. Just the same argument over and over, then on to the next one.

It also felt like the characters and their relationships to each other were really uneven. In some chapters the characters felt really captivating, their connection felt real, and you cared about what was happening to them, and in others they felt flat, forced, and none of it seemed to matter. Sometimes their connection felt strong, and other times it felt like we were being told they mattered to each other rather than being shown. It also felt like, a lot of times, the characters only had dimension and depth when they were the POV character and became one-dimensional when they weren't. Too often, they existed on the periphery of the other's story until they took center stage again, rather than feeling like complex characters independently throughout.

I get why some people are squicked out by them being father and daughter in one life and then suddenly lovers in the next, but I felt like the dynamics between them in general were more of a problem for me than some of the icky connotations. It was frustrating that they could never seem to figure out how they actually felt about each other, even when they remembered their past lives together. I like the idea that through living multiple lives in multiple relationship forms they really could be everything to each other, but I almost wish the author had just chosen a relationship form and stuck with it because a lot of them just didn’t work.

I’m almost definitely in the minority on this, but I also hated that most of the chapters ended without one or both of the characters dying. I can’t decide if this was an attempt at mystery or if the author just couldn’t bring herself to do it. We don’t find out how most of their lives ended until about ⅔ of the way into the book and it’s treated as some kind of revelation, instead of a thing we should have already known for hundreds of pages, and it doesn’t actually change anything when we find out. Without that resolution, though, the changes between lives felt really abrupt and most of the stories felt incomplete. It also made it feel like the bits of their lives we did see were totally arbitrary. Why did we see *this* piece? Why now? Sometimes they’d each been in the city for years, sometimes they’d been together for years, but we only see a tiny 30 page snapshot of most of them. It’s also heavily implied that there are many many more lives that we do not see. Again, why?? Theoretically, we were shown the Important Lives, but if that’s true, why did most of them feel so… meaningless? At a certain point, none of the stories felt complete unto themselves, but they also didn’t really feel like part of a larger whole, either, because they never seemed to evolve or grow over time. Even once they remembered their previous lives, it felt like they’d start back at square one each time and have the same arguments all over again. Oh, to spice it up, they’d occasionally switch sides in the argument.

It also felt like a weird choice to only show them dying a couple of times in a book about parallel lives/reincarnation/multiple chances. The whole structure of the book is based on them dying repeatedly! It feels like a weird cheat for the author to break her own rules by allowing them to move on to the next life without actually resolving for us the one they’re currently in. I don’t know if the author couldn’t bring herself to actually kill her characters over and over or if The Powers That Be thought it might be too much for readers (admittedly, very possibly true), but it made it really hard to actually care about the stakes and to feel for them in each of their iterations as I think I was supposed to. Instead, I left most of the vignettes feeling unresolved and frustrated.

I’m also maybe in the minority with this, as well, but I guessed the twist by at least the halfway mark and spent the rest of the book being pissed off at the characters for not figuring it out, too. It was right there! They have multiple conversations about it all being a dream and wondering why it is they never actually make it to the stars in any of their lives. Because it’s all a dream and you’re already in the stars!!! Space Travel Narrative 101 dictates that the travelers are put in hibernation for the flight. They’re made out to be these big SFF nerds but they didn’t spot one of the biggest tropes in the genre? Yeah, okay. Also, there are many many SFF books and movies where something goes wrong with the hibernation period, and it’s wild that the author made these characters spend 90% of the book and who knows how many lives just not thinking about it. The book would have been a lot tighter if the author had cut even a couple of the lives and endless repetition and had them figure everything out sooner. And if not, then I wish she’d cut the “maybe it’s all a dream” conversations altogether so it could actually have been a surprise.

And then, once they do figure it out, they spin in circles for several chapters/lives before figuring out what to actually do about it and then suddenly it’s over in the worst possible way. It felt so obvious and manipulative for Santi to be the one to die, that either of them had to die. I’m not even that into happy endings, but it feels like the book could have been saved by them both seeing the fulfillment of their dreams. Or, actually, I could have been really into a tragic ending where they both woke up but supplies hadn’t been sent ahead, so they’d already used up their supplies for the return home, and they both descend to the new planet with what’s left of their strength to die together, finally getting what they’d both spent lifetimes striving toward. Dreams fulfilled but at the expense of everything else, bittersweet loveliness, etc.

Instead, we have Thora living and exploring the great unknown for both of them. Ugh. And of course--of course!--she envisions him giving his blessing, that this is what he would have wanted. I hate everything about this. It’s so manipulative! Like, of course the “nice one” dies. Of course he’d be thrilled for her to go on without him. Of course the selfish, manipulative, cruel one lives. Of course she comes around in the end to sacrificing herself for him, finally, only to be the one who actually lives. Of course! How could it have ended any other way? Poignancy! Growth! Anyone could have called that ending from the very beginning, where she ditched him to avoid getting hurt. Or when, throughout the whole book, when one of them does actually die onscreen it’s always Santi and we’re always in Thora’s head. It was always headed here and it feels gross.

I’m also really mad about what was done to Thora over the course of the book. I actually really liked her in the beginning chapters and was looking forward to her growth, but she seemed to descend deeper into the worst version of herself as the book went on, becoming more unlikable with each chapter. She even comments on this repeatedly! And it’s made worse because Santi is always patient and sensitive and vulnerable, always available to her. I hate this dynamic and I hate the gender bullshit of it. Like, what if they were BOTH just good people?? Or broken and damaged? Why is the woman always a saint or a bitch? She’s continuously cruel and he’s continuously wounded. Give me a fucking break.

I also wish, if the author was going to keep the ending and characterizations as they are, that she would have switched to Santi’s perspective for a minute in the end so we could see him understand what’s happening and accept his fate, willingly sacrifice himself and wish her onward before switching back to Thora, instead of having her symbolically imagine him doing so without giving any resolution to his character. It feels so abrupt and shitty to be in Thora’s head for the whole thing. We see him having an absolute breakdown over her impending doom--from Thora’s perspective!--and then whoops, bye Santi! We don’t even actually see her release him into space or have a little moment for him! It’s just, “Now he’s a frozen mancicle floating through space and I know this is what he would have wanted for me!” Great. Wonderful. Cool character development.

Also, nitpicky, but it’s totally vague how a shared simulation would even work or if the simulation was actually shared. Maybe Thora didn’t live a hundred lifetimes with Santi any more than she did with Jules! Just life after life spent with her own mental projections of the stranger in the box next to her.

I’m talking myself into hating this book more the longer I write...

One other thing. I’m not sure the marketing of this book has done it any favors, and that’s partially because the book isn’t really sure what it wants to be. SFF? Contemporary lit? Romance? It seems like a lot of people are going into it with wildly different expectations and are disappointed because of it. People expecting a romance à la The Time Traveler’s Wife seem disappointed because there’s almost no romance, people expecting contemporary lit seem to find the science fiction elements confusing and hard to follow, and I suspect a lot of people expecting science fiction are going to be disappointed because a lot of that is left vague, undeveloped, and unexplained.

[Andrew Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thora and Santi meet in the German city of Cologne, known for its Love Locks Bridge and wonderful cathedral. They are in a bar and their meeting is courtesy of a mistake by the barmaid, each being delivered the other’s drink. It’s to be a fateful moment, for though Thora isn’t looking for a man she somehow finds herself taking Santi home with her. So starts this amazing adventure in which the pair are to meet again and again in different lives in what appears to be a never ending cycle.

The future meetings will always be in this same city, but their ages will be different from the first time and the relationships they share will change too. And though at first they have no sense that they’ve previously met, this begins to slowly change as at some point vague memories start to permeate. What's going on, why is this happening?

In a story that reminded me of Audrey Niffenegger’s amazing book The Time Traveller’s Wife, not in construction but in feel, I quickly became totally absorbed by this tale. I really don’t want to go into the plot any more than I have because apart from enjoying the ever evolving relationship between the pair, the mystery that is created by their plight is very much the strength of the book.

Along the way I grew close to Thora and Santi: Thora headstrong and spiky and Santi the pious and placid one. They have some interests in common but are very different people. The story is ever changing, ever evolving, even if the setting is largely the same. There are some recurring characters – a few – though their context is sometimes different too. That might sound confusing, but actually it really didn’t feel that way. I had no idea where this was all taking me and yet I was never less than fully engaged.

Eventually, the bigger picture emerges, questions are answered and loose ends tied off. I found it to be an emotional journey, and a hugely rewarding one at that. In part it’s a love story (more than one, actually) and to a greater extent it’s a mystery that makes no sense… until it does. A fantastic adventure that I’ll be thinking about for ages to come, of that I’m absolutely certain.

I listened to an audio version supplied by HarperCollins UK, expertly narrated by English actress Kristin Atherton. My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for supplying a copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks Andrew > 💕
….Book recommendation God…. 🥳

Overdrive…Library….ebook

I inhaled this book last night — finishing it this morning while spinning on our home stationary spinnaker bike.

This little gem of a novel can make us think about everyone we’ve ever loved… everyone we have left behind — or everyone who has left us behind—
caring more about being explorers and touching the unknown, more than caring about anything else.
Maybe we are all selfish human beings…
We make sacrifices— for the sake of unknown life journeys…..
surprising paths in search of
salvation.

Part fiction, part fantasy, part science fiction, part love story….
…… interwoven with sweetness and tragedy….

Wonderful dreamy storytelling with universal symbolism throughout.

Fun dialogue…
…. “This may shock you, but I disagree”.
“Well, it wouldn’t be the first time”.
“I look forward to continuing this argument in our next life”.

….”Wow, you Czech-Icelandic-British people are so intense”.
“Thora throws her head back in a laugh. Congratulations on remembering all the nationalities. Most people have to be told hundred times before they get it right”.
“He darts her a look. I pay attention”.

Adorable characters and a
cat to love….
*Felicette*….meowing and purring throughout….

Thought to ponder…
“Every single choice we make tells us something about ourselves”.

[Nina (ninjasbooks) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This made me think, feel and wonder about the world. There were so many emotional moments in it, that I actually had to hold tears back when I was out taking a walk. The characters were complex, so that made the irritating choices easier to stomach. After all, we all do things we regret when emotional. I never wanted it to end, which surprised me. In the beginning I thought, how many times can I read about the same characters meeting in another life without feeling exhausted? A lot, it seems.

[Ellen | reading_theend · Rating 5 out of 5]

I requested this book in a whim after seeing @franzencomesalive raving about it on Twitter, and I’m so happy I did because I loved it. It’s got magic and mystery, romance and angst, and yet it defies categorization. I find that some of my favorite books are a mishmash of elements from various genres, and this one is no exception. I don’t want to say too much because the mystery of what the hell is going on is so much of the fun of this book, but basically two people keep meeting in life after life — always in different roles — and slowly start to realize that they’re the only ones aware that they’re repeating their lives. They alternate between working to figure out why, and just living with the mystery. It’s really a fun, sad, profound, cool ride, and I highly recommend it. Oh and it’s casually queer, which I also loved. Thanks to William Morrow for sending me an advanced copy! It’s out April 27.

[DeAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Unique Stars

Thora and Santi are living countless lives that intertwine. The chapters each deal with different times they encounter each other. Sometimes they are teacher and student, other times they are twin siblings. At times they are the same age, at other times they are decades apart. They share a connection with the stars, and they always reunite in Cologne.

I really wasn’t sure where this one was going – was it like Groundhog Day where they needed to relive a life until they had changed their outlook, or righted some wrongs? Did they need to love each other no matter what?

The ending was not at all what I was expecting but definitely made this one a unique read. I don’t want to give any more clues than that! By the end, I felt I knew Thora and Santi and it was bittersweet to close the book.

Thank you to Book Club Girl Early Reads and William Morrow for the copy of this one to read.

[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a Nutshell: Whoa! What a debut work! This is one author I’m going to keep my eye on.

Story:

Thora and Santi are strangers who meet in in a city foreign to both of them. They seem to have an instant connect to each other until a sudden accident cuts off the continuity of their relationship. But hey, they meet once more, in another lifetime and in a different relation. Destiny brings them to each other again and again; sometimes they have just minutes together, sometimes an entire lifetime. Their relation to each other is constantly changing: teacher-student, parent-child, lovers, colleagues,… There seems to be no pattern. But after multiple reiterations of this seemingly endless loop of lives, they discover that there’s something larger at play. Is this “something” within their control, or is the universe just playing games with them? Read and find out.

At the surface level, this seems like a weird combination of The Midnight Library (the book) and Groundhog Day (the movie). But this book is so much more than the repetition of lives. As I usually do, I started jotting down points I wanted to discuss in my review. And many of the points I wrote seemed to be plot holes. Why do these two keep meeting in some kind of strange reincarnation? Why is the city the same every time? Why don’t their names change in every lifetime? Why don’t the other persons in their lives change their relationships, how come only these two change? Why is the timeline not changing, how come every life seems to be in the same time period? And on and on… But then comes the Big Reveal at about 70%! (I’m not sure of the exact location because I was so stunned by it, I forgot to make a note of it!) Plot holes resolved, doubts clarified, mysteries uncovered, and all this leads to the discovery of a greater, more potent problem at hand. I couldn’t rest until I reached the ending from this point onwards!

The book seems to fall in two distinct genres that don’t traditionally go hand in hand but blend wonderfully in this story. Of course, purists might not be able to put their head around this but as I am comfortable with almost all genres, I enjoyed that change in momentum and plot. I don’t want to reveal the second genre here as it will take away your fun of discovery, but the first half is much philosophical. It raises pertinent questions about determinism and free will voiced via Santi’s and Thora’s characters respectively. You too will find yourself pondering over deeper existential questions. But after the big reveal, the focus shifts to the other genre and I was so irritated with myself that I didn’t see it coming. There are enough clues and Easter eggs scattered throughout the story for the reader to be able to make the logical leap, but I was so caught up with the philosophical side of the story that I missed out on the obvious segue. It was very smart of the author.

Thora and Santi are fabulously created characters. Just like their physical contrasts, their beliefs are poles apart. Thora is a firm believer in free will and random events that needn’t have an obvious cause of purpose or correlation. Santi, on the other hand, is a staunch adherent of determinism and that everything springs from a divine plan, and everything has a purpose. But something seems to bring them together in every lifetime and it’s mind-blowing to see their behavioural patterns and thought processes over the ages. Some other character names are mentioned at regular interims and their relation to the two main characters remains almost the same throughout. But as they have just a blink-and-you-miss-it appearance in most of the lives, it’s only Thora and Santi who stay in your mind.

All this is not to say that it is a perfect book. The section in the second genre was a little abrupt. I would have loved more details about the who’s and the why’s behind the whole episode. But this is such a minuscule complaint in the face of the overall experience that I’m happy to let it go.

Now to come to the 11 hour long audiobook, narrated by Kristin Atherton. If I could rate her performance 10 stars, I would. What a phenomenal experience it was to hear her voice Thora and Santi in each lifetime without it sounding tedious even once! She was amazing.

If you don’t have stringent requirements for watertight genres in your books, and you like books that make you wonder what would you do if you were in that character’s position, do give this book a try. It was a fabulous listening experience for me.

4.5 stars from me.

Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins UK Audio, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.





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[Darla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite some compelling elements, I did not find this debut to be as mesmerizing as the description promised. Thora and Santi live a multitude of lives and encounter each other at different ages, with varying occupations, and life partners. Thora is thorny like her name and a skeptic. Santi believes in God and a plan for mankind. As they live life after life, both come to the conclusion that there must be a way to stop the endless cycle. Is there a way to break out of the loop? Who is the man in the blue coat? What will happen to their loved ones? This book just was not what I expected and was a bit of a letdown for me.

Thank you to William Morrow and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

[Amanda Yates · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book... wow. It will make you look at life a bit different. It’s a story that makes you root got the main characters while still thinking that it’s never going to happen. A great book and story.

[Angela M]

I mistakenly thought this was a time travel story and I enjoy them from time to time . This was not and I’m not interested enough to find out what it is . So it’s a dnf for me .

[Olha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Я в повному абсолютному захваті!
Це прекрасна книга, написана дуже гарно, чудово перекладена, і взагалі, тема паралельних всесвітів (чи чогось на кшталт) мене завжди захоплює і привертає увагу. Не всім авторам вдається обіграти це так, щоб мені сподобалось. А тут потрапляння в десяточку!
Маємо на початку двох героїв, які стикаються в різних іпостасях - то вони напарники, то названі брат із сестрою, то коханці і ще багато різних. Але чим далі, тим більше питань: що ж відбувається насправді? І всі відповіді будуть 👌🏻
Це і наукова фантастика, і філософія (бо персонажі роздумують про сенс життя, чи є у нас вибір, чи все наперед вирішено, отаке).
Якщо зацікавились, раджу 🫶🏻

[Mallory · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the more unique books I’ve read. While it was beautifully written I felt at times that I had to keep pushing myself to get through it. There were some great philosophical questions about fate and how who we are changes through the things that occur around us. Thora and Santi lead countless lives in this book, but somehow always find each other. They have different functions in each other’s lives (which was weird, they were married, parent/child, siblings etc), As they come to realize who they are and they are reliving things slightly differently each time they struggle to figure out why snd how to end their endless cycle of lives. This book made me think and it was an emotional roller coaster.

[Katie Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew that the moment I started crying 20% into this book that it would be one hell of whirlwind and boy was that true. The story is original, captivating and emotional. The chance of crying during this book is a high one, so get your tissues ready if you want to embark on this journey.

The story follows two main characters - Thora and Santi, who end up meeting each other for the first time whilst studying at uni. Santi is a strong believer that everyone has a life set out for them, whereas Thora believes that life is forever changing based on the decisions you make. They clash together in a strange perfect harmony and despite their different views, their friendship is a special one. After their initial meeting, Santi passes away and leaves Thora in shock. However, we then start to realise, it was never really the end all along.

The story continues to show a myriad of different lives for Santi and Thora. In each life they encapsulate a different relationship e.g. teacher and student, father and daughter, brother and sister. It becomes apparent that their lives are never-ending, trapped in a cycle that can't be broken. When one dies, they reappear again in another life. However, despite continuing on in their new lives without worry, suddenly they begin to realise that something is not quite right and memories from previous lives begin to haunt them. Who are Santi and Thora? Why are they always with each other? Why can't they leave this place?

This book was such a fun mixture of mystery, romance and it had an added twist at the end.
I will say that it does get a little tedious in the middle, after so many lives I found myself yearning for a change in the story but once they begin to clue in (60% through), I honestly couldn't put it down I had to know.

The ending was good but I think was a little rushed and could have been better! It was such a load of confusion suddenly thrown on the reader that it didn't leave me much room to feel emotional. Then again, they are my only two critiques.

I think if you love Addie LaRue and want a little mixture of time-travel and sci-fi, definitely pick up this book when it comes out!

[Flo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went into this knowing very little about this book, and while I enjoyed it, I do wish I had known it was sci-fi. Here are some things I liked:
- the pacing: a page-turner, I couldn't put it down, and whenever I started to think I was getting tired of one storyline/plot, it switched gears just in time.
- the characters: in the first chapter, they may seem a little cliche, but even then there is a bit of depth to Thora & Santi. I loved how they changed & stayed the same, much as people do. I was fully invested in what happened to these characters.
- the relationships: again, the ways the relationships evolve are fantastic. I cried early on in this book.
- the writing: occasionally heavy-handed, but mostly deft and thoughtful.
- some of it's ideas on attraction & love

What I didn't like falls under two categories. One, is mostly on me. This was not the book for me at this time. I was looking for something romantic & uplifting, and this book is neither of those. That is NOT a bad thing--this book is many other good things--but I think the blurb (and the comparison to The Time Traveler's Wife) can sell people on romantic & uplifting. There is romance, but it's a subplot, and while I would call it a love story, but not a traditional romantic one.

The second category of what I didn't like is mostly spoilers, so continue reading for SPOILERS. I am about to spoil a big mystery in the book so BE WARNED. Seriously SPOILERS.
As soon as you find out it's a simulation, a lot of the thoughtful questions & conversations that Thora and Santi have had for the first part of the book lose their significance. I also hated the ending, which I won't spoil, but it was very rushed and I didn't really understand the point. Maybe it doesn't need a point, but I also don't want it to be pointless. and that's very much how the last 10% felt.

Overall, if you like time travel-type things, unconventional love stories, stories about friendships, and page turners, I think you might like this. I don't think it holds up too well if you think about it too much, but it's a fun way to pass the time.

**Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.**

[Loredana (Bookinista08) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh gawd, I do love a good mindfxxk book!!
Când am început cartea am crezut că este despre ceva, dar a fost despre cu totul altceva. Un plot twist făcut cu multă îndemânare, recunosc!
Mi-au plăcut și lecțiile de viață de pe la sfârșit, cartea s-a terminat într-un fel care m-a lăsat puțin cu gura căscată.

[Bookoholiccafe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meet Me in Another Life by Catriona Silvey Two people, Infinite lifetimes and one impossible choice. I haven’t archived this book yet. I have to spend some time and read it again. Our main two characters keep meeting in life after life and in different roles. The story was a slow burn at the beginning, and it took off. both characters are aware that their life keeps repeating over and over again and they are trying to find out why this is happening to them.
Meet Me in Another Life started as a romance and I found it interesting that each chapter was like a short story. The ending however surprised me; I wasn’t expecting it to finish as a sci-fi. The book had mixed genres, mystery, magic, and romance. The story focuses on the quantum theory of reincarnation which is one of my favorite topics to read about.

Thank you, William Morrow, for gifting me a copy of Meet Me in Another Life!

[SHOMPA · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars!

This book had a really cool concept, but the story ended up dragging a lot. It felt super repetitive, and then out of nowhere, it just ends. Frankly, if the author had wrapped things up better, I might’ve felt differently, but it was so quick and left so many loose ends that it didn’t feel satisfying at all.

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of the strangest books I've read in recent years. The cover text and the marketing for this book had me thinking I was picking up a sort-of romance with maybe a little time-travel-like twist thrown in, but it's a book that doesn't fit into any one genre.

And I actually like genre-crossing stories every now and again, but this just dragged for me. Thora and Santi, the two protagonists, basically have the same argument over and over and over. And while I liked Thora at the beginning of the novel, the further we got along the more she became the worst version of herself and I actively hated her at one point.

The twist was rather well done, I thought, if only because I hadn't seen it coming at all. But I struggle to find the point of this book. I'm left with so many questions that I'll never have any answers to.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to HarperCollins and Net Galley for this ARC.

Meet Me In Another Life started very strong for me. The ideas of time travel, multiple versions of yourself, and parallel universes have always fascinated me. Reading the first several times that Thora and Santi lived, met, and interacted with each other were interesting. The middle third of the book became a little tedious though and it felt and little flat, I found myself wondering if this was going anywhere and if we would find out any meaning about why this was happening. The plot picked up again towards the end and there was a twist that I did not see coming. The end of the book was mostly satisfying though it did leave me with a few questions. Overall enjoyable though I’m not sure of this would be a strong recommendation of mine to other readers.

[talon smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I see a lot of hate for this story in the reviews and while I can understand where it comes from-- I loved it for the reasons that people hated it.

The inconsistent timeline was my favorite part of this book. It made me feel like I was reading all of these mini-stories on how people can be connected to each other. It made every chapter new and fresh and fun for me.

So, while I understand how people could not enjoy this story, I both liked it and didn't like it. I can't put into words without spoiling what made me un-like it so much. But this book is definitely the sort of book that you love or you hate it.

[Robby Harrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just, wow. I loved this book so much. It was like a magical combination of The Time Traveler’s Wife + The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue + The Midnight Library. So good.

[Natalie "Curling up with a Coffee and a Kindle" Laird · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most beautifully written book I have read in years. The writing was like poetry and Kristin Atherton's voice was like silk reading it to me.
I was invited to read this by the publisher, and the blurb intrigued me and I couldn't resist it!
It was a fascinating read- how much does fate play a part in uniting souls together? If we are from different lives, do we still find each other? I have often wondered things like this- would I have still met my fiance 7 years ago had we both not moved to Chester for different reasons and worked with our mutual friend? A beautiful idea, and executed with remarkable ease.
This book is admittedly a little into the fantasy genre, but if that genre is not your thing, PLEASE do not be put off. You will be enthralled, I cannot believe this is a debut novel.
Thora and Santi are beautiful people who I immediately adored, and their dazzling connection was palpable through the pages.
The 'lives' Silvey chose were incredible, a huge array of different relationships that I would never have even thought of, but were utterly perfect.
An absolutely sublime debut.

[CadmanReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Updated review. 5 stars.

One of my favourite books released in 2021 that doesn't get enough love on Bookstagramme, Tube or Tok.
It follows two characters, Santi and Thora, that are destined to meet through multiple lifetimes.
The link between them changes each time and the book follows their lives as they deal with the memories of their past relationships.

I love the exploration of how each character was affected by their experience, how they interacted with each other and what the book says about life and love.
Trying to pin this down to a genre I'd say its a 'fantasy sci-fi romance'.

I agree with other reviewers that this book would sit nicely on a shelf with 'The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue', 'The Midnight Library' and 'The Time Traveler’s Wife'.



Original review.
5 stars

I think this might be a book that stays with me.

[Hannah Mc · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this, and it wasn’t what I expected at all.

At first I thought it was a romance, which isn’t really my bag. Though I kept on as the characters were likeable and well written.

The twist was something I didn’t see coming, such an original and cool idea. As Santi and Thora navigate through their many lives, they have to find the real meaning of their constant reincarnation.

As long as they find each other they’ll be ok, such a sweet story about friendship, fate and learning to grow and change as a person in different stages of life.

Definitely recommend this one!

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meet Me In Another Life is the joyful, devastating and quietly profound debut speculative science fiction novel from Catriona Silvey in which it is asked: is it possible to remember someone you have seemingly never met ever before, and, if so, how? Thora Lišková and Santiago López meet for the first time when they are eighteen. Strangers in a foreign city, they both attend the campus at Cologne University in Germany, she as a student and he as a custodian. They bond over their shared ambition to travel to the stars. Thora thinks she’s finally found a kindred spirit, a friend for life. Until, days later, Santi is cruelly snatched away from her. That’s not the only way it happens. Santi meets Thora for the first time when he is 45, and she walks into his science classroom, a seven-year-old student who dreams of the stars; when he walks into her medical practice as an elderly patient; when her parents adopt him, aged five, as her brother; when they face each other on opposing sides of a bloody civil war. Life after life, haunted by impossible memories, Thora and Santi manage to find each other.

But how is it possible to remember lives never lived, to meet someone over and over for the very first time? And is there a deeper mystery to the patterns of their strange existence? This is a captivating and life-affirming novel about the power of memory and the wonders of friendship and love to buoy you through anything, as well as the role those elements and emotions play in self-identity, and despite its brevity, I found, at under 300 pages, it still packed a real visceral punch. We follow these two unforgettable characters through their many lives in a tale that encompasses a range of different genres: romance, science fiction, mystery and fantasy, to name but four. Poignant from the outset and steeped in profound and complex philosophical themes, I found myself absorbed by this beautifully woven character-driven yarn. It is a moving, inventive and richly evocative story and a spectacularly compelling page-turner filled with shocking twists that affirms the power of love to connect us beyond time and space. This is the type of book that kills you then swiftly brings you back to life again. Highly recommended.

[Hannah walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seriously cannot stop thinking about this book. It went in a COMPLETELY different direction from what I was expecting and I’m still conflicted about how I feel about it. I can’t really write a full review or even say the genre without giving everything away so just know that it was written beautifully and the attention to detail was incredible. Eventually I might even reread it because I’m sure there are things that I didn’t catch. Go into this one with an open mind and I guarantee you will be surprised.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meet Me in Another Life is a combination of General Fiction, Literary Fiction and Science Fiction.

I wanted to read this book, because I love the idea of fate and I thought that this book would be an epic romance. But honestly this book was so different from what I was expecting.

Thora and Santi keep meeting each other in different lives. But romance is not the focus. In some worlds they become friends. In some they become colleagues. In the rare case they become lovers. And sometimes they are enemies.

The beginning was very bizarre. And I honestly had no idea if I was reading contemporary or fantasy or what. In each chapter they meet each other no matter what time/dimension/universe they are in.

The book is divided into three parts. It almost reads like a bunch of short stories. Each story features the same two characters. But they are different ages in each story. This is a creative idea. But I thought that there would maybe be three stories with the couple falling in love in each dimension. But that is not what this story is at all.

It is unique and different. But things only start to make sense towards the end. Each story was good. But I'm not really a fan of short stories. And that is what most of this book felt like. I really wanted an epic love story. But in most of these stories they are not even a couple.

As the book goes on it definitely seemed more like a novel. And it was interesting to see how the two characters acted. However, the explanation at the end was super weird and not very satisfying.

Thanks to edelweiss and William Morrow for allowing me to read this book.

[Понкратова Людмила · Rating 3 out of 5]

Очікувала більше від цієї книги, задумка цікава, а ось втілення, на мою думку, не дуже... Тут життя головних героїв, Тори і Санті, представлені у вигляді невеличких таких новел - через певний відрізок часу вони вмирають (або гинуть) і знову оживають (просинаються) вже в іншому, новому житті і в інших один для одного ролях.. І так знову по колу... Деякі історії з їхнього життя торкають, деякі просто наводили нудьгу. Вони хотіли прожити кожне (а їх було багато) своє нове життя заново,так, ніби це був їхній єдиний шанс. Тора ставала з часом пригніченою, злою - це мене відштовхувало, не сподобалася й одноманітність закінчень цих історій. А фінал взагалі не вразив. Для мене якось так, хоча початок був багатообіцяючим, насправді. Щось є від книги "Незриме життя Адді Лярю" Вікторії Шваб, яка набагато сильніше написана, як на мене.