If She had Stayed is Ms. Byington’s sophomore book and was such a joy to read I whizzed through it in one sitting. She successfully blends women’s fiction with time travel while fan-girling over scientist Nikola Tesla.
Kaley Kline, a mid-thirties woman, having never lived up to her potential, feels she is a “dud.” When she discovers pages from Tesla’s journals detailing time travel, she resolves to prove his assertions are correct. Tesla, too, is a bit of a dud, never living up to his potential as a scientist nor never reaching the success of his contemporaries. As the director of the new Tesla Museum in Colorado Springs, Kaley hopes to make her museum successful and envisions the old journal as the means to do it—plus she’ll get personal kudos for being the second person to travel through time.
The tone is upbeat but with darker undertones of madness and abuse, but revealing those would disclose the plot. The characters—from Kaley to her boyfriend to Tesla—all have appropriate growth during their character arcs. If She Had Stayed has an entirely different feel than Who She Is, Byington’s first book, but I enjoyed this book immensely.
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If She had Stayed is available through:
