Although reincarnation is a central tenet of several Asian religions, the idea remains the stuff of myth in mainstream Western culture. In The Forgetting Time, first-time novelist Sharon Guskin looks at choices, regret and second chances in the powerful story of a little boy who remembers life as someone else and the adults who struggle to help him find peace.
After a brief fling while on vacation, Janie turns up pregnant. She keeps the baby and considers little Noah a precious gift. However, Noah grows into a difficult, baffling child. He tells stories about a grandfather he doesn't have, a lake house where they've never been. He cries and begs to go home when they're already there. Janie takes Noah to therapist after therapist, with results ranging from no answers to a diagnosis of early-onset schizophrenia. Desperate for an explanation, Janie turns to the Internet. Her research takes a surprising direction, leading her to an authority on the topic of past-life memories.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, a mother has spent years grieving her missing child while a killer walks free.
Whether or not the reader believes in life after death, Guskin offers an intimate and suspenseful portrait of a family in crisis. Intercut with excerpted case studies from actual past-life researcher Dr. Jim Tucker's Life Before Life, Guskin's drama is honest, even comforting, but never gimmicky. She challenges readers to consider that human consciousness may be more complicated and far-reaching than science or Western religion believe. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads