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Six Novels That Bring Together Mystery and Time Travel

Literature that tests the boundaries of time itself..

H.G. Wells was not the first author to explore time travel as a literary device, but he popularized the concept in ways that had never been done before. I’ve always been drawn to time travel in all genres—from sci-fi to suspense, from romance to action adventure—but my particular favorite is mixing the time-bending element with a good mystery.

Depending upon how it’s done, it can add to the tension—a race against time as our characters try to return to their own era—or it can allow readers to explore the past through modern eyes. In my own  In Time  mystery series, I’ve enjoyed the fish-out-of-water sensation that my main character—a modern-day woman and brilliant FBI agent—experiences after being tossed back to the Regency period in England. As women then were second-class citizens without the ability to even vote, not only does she have to deal with personal obstacles, but she also cannot tap into her usual arsenal of forensic tools to solve crimes.

Whether time travel is being used to wrap a mystery in an extra, innovative layer or is allowing readers to view humanity and history through a different lens, the theme is brilliantly done in the books that I’ve listed below.

Lightning , Dean Koontz

The moment I read  Lightning , I fell in love with the characters and the story’s complexity, so I was shocked to later learn that Dean Koontz actually had to fight to get this book published. I was not shocked that after he finally succeeded, the novel was wildly successful. From the first page, I was plunged into a not-so-natural phenomenon of flashing lightning in the middle of a snowstorm, from which a mystery man emerges and becomes inexplicably linked to the life of the main character, Laura. In typical Koontz fashion, Lightning weaves together a plethora of elements—heroism, heartbreak, love, humor, and plenty of bad guys. The time-travel aspect is lightly done, but with a twist that literally leaves you gasping.

Recursion , Blake Crouch

I didn’t think I could go down a more twisted rabbit hole than when I read Blake Crouch’s  Dark Matter , but he simply blew my mind with  Recursion . Time travel is often portrayed as an external process, relying on Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, which teased the notion that space and time could be bent to create a wormhole or vortex. Crouch, however, went  inward , by proposing the possibility that we could use our own memories to be propelled back to any point in our lives. The concept is fascinating, and there were many points at which I had to put down the book to simply  think  about what I had just read. Of course, in Crouch’s tale there is as much danger and devastation in going back to tweak your own timeline as there is if you were to jump into a time machine and return to the days of the dinosaurs, stepping on an insect that would then change life as we know it (à la Chaos Theory and the Butterfly Effect).

Timeline , Michael Crichton

No one has ever blended science—both fact and theory—into action adventure quite like Michael Crichton. He delves into the mechanics of time travel in such a masterful way that the incomprehensible becomes a head-nodding moment. Even better, it doesn’t slow down the story, which begins as a puzzle and evolves into an escapade, when a modern-day professor is trapped in the Middle Ages, with his band of scientifically minded students following to rescue him. I loved learning about the history of this particular time, especially seen through the eyes of scientists. Of course, human nature remains consistent through the centuries, which means there is plenty of avarice, betrayal, and cruelty to keep readers white-knuckled with worry over whether our protagonists will escape with their lives.

The Shining Girls , by Lauren Beukes 

Serial killers often escape detection by jumping jurisdictions, both in real life and in fiction. Lauren Beukes takes this to a mind-bending extreme by having a delusional psychopath jumping decades—from the Great Depression to the early ’90s—after discovering a house that is a time-traveling portal. When a woman survives her vicious attack, she becomes obsessed about finding her would-be murderer, and the puzzle pieces begin to slowly snap together. The writing is beautiful, the crimes brutal. This is not a book for the faint of heart, but if you have the courage, it’s well worth the read.

11/22/63 , by Stephen King

Traveling back in time with the purpose of changing history—and therefore the future—is an idea that has been explored in movies, TV (the old  Twilight Zone  had a few thought-provoking episodes on the subject), literature, philosophical discussions, and even in science classes. Yet Stephen King boldly—and brilliantly—explored the concept with perhaps the biggest do-over of all time with our main character, Jake (aka George), trying to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating John F. Kennedy.

The Time Machine , by H.G. Wells

It’s impossible to do a list of time-travel books without including the granddaddy of them all,  The Time Machine . Written in 1895, Wells imagined the future—802701 A.D., to be precise—when his Time Traveler narrator recounted his journey there (and beyond). I had read  The Time Machine  years ago, but I thought I needed to reread the novella again before officially including it in this list. While I had fond memories of the story, I also have fond memories of  The A-Team . Not everything stands the test of time (no pun intended). Thankfully,  The Time Machine  is worth the read and reread. Wells’ Time Traveler recounts his journey into the future, where human beings have undergone a Darwinian evolution—or, rather, a devolution, since humanity does  not  fare well. Even though it was written in the Victorian Age, it is a cautionary tale that will resonate for today’s reader, too.

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Julie McElwain

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19 Best Time Travel Thriller Books of All Time

Following his massively successful novel Under the Dome, King sweeps readers back in time to another moment—a real life moment—when everything went wrong: the JFK assassination. And he introduces readers to a character who has the power to change the course of history.

Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. He receives an essay from one of the students—a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk.

Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane—and insanely possible—mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life – a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.

Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of a world that threatens her life, and may shatter her heart. Marooned amid danger, passion, and violence, Claire learns her only chance of safety lies in Jamie Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior. What begins in compulsion becomes urgent need, and Claire finds herself torn between two very different men, in two irreconcilable lives.

Conscripted into service for the United Nations Exploratory Force, a highly trained unit built for revenge, physics student William Mandella fights for his planet light years away against the alien force known as the Taurans. “Mandella’s attempt to survive and remain human in the face of an absurd, almost endless war is harrowing, hilarious, heartbreaking, and true,” says Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Junot Díaz—and because of the relative passage of time when one travels at incredibly high speed, the Earth Mandella returns to after his two-year experience has progressed decades and is foreign to him in disturbing ways.

Based in part on the author’s experiences in Vietnam, The Forever War is regarded as one of the greatest military science fiction novels ever written, capturing the alienation that servicemen and women experience even now upon returning home from battle. It shines a light not only on the culture of the 1970s in which it was written, but also on our potential future.

Falling in love with the daughter of its leader, Mad Newton, he returns to the present to face a difficult choice, whether or not to save her. And be part of the New Beginning.

But this year’s Passover Seder will be different−Hannah will be mysteriously transported into the past…and only she knows the unspeakable horrors that await. Winner of the National Jewish Book Award.

Rant Casey will die a spectacular highway death, after which his friends gather the testimony needed to build an oral history of his short, violent life. With hilarity, horror, and blazing insight, Rant is a mind-bending vision of the future, as only Chuck Palahniuk could ever imagine.

Time (Manifold #1) by Stephen Baxter. The year is 2010. More than a century of ecological damage, industrial and technological expansion, and unchecked population growth has left the Earth on the brink of devastation.

Battling national sabotage and international outcry, as apocalyptic riots sweep the globe, he builds a spacecraft and launches it into deep space. The odds are a trillion to one against him. Or are they?

A pull of the Time Machine’s lever propels him to the age of a slowly dying Earth.  There he discovers two bizarre races—the ethereal Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks—who not only symbolize the duality of human nature, but offer a terrifying portrait of the men of tomorrow as well.

Published in 1895, this masterpiece of invention captivated readers on the threshold of a new century. Thanks to Wells’s expert storytelling and provocative insight, The Time Machine will continue to enthrall readers for generations to come.

Polly Churchill’s next assignment will be as a shopgirl in the middle of London’s Blitz. But now the time-travel lab is suddenly canceling assignments and switching around everyone’s schedules. And when Michael, Merope, and Polly finally get to World War II, things just get worse.

For there they face air raids, blackouts, and dive-bombing Stukas—to say nothing of a growing feeling that not only their assignments but the war and history itself are spiraling out of control. Because suddenly the once-reliable mechanisms of time travel are showing significant glitches, and our heroes are beginning to question their most firmly held belief: that no historian can possibly change the past.

Spin (Spin Saga #1) by Robert Charles Wilson. One night in October when he was ten years old, Tyler Dupree stood in his back yard and watched the stars go out. They all flared into brilliance at once, then disappeared, replaced by a flat, empty black barrier. He and his best friends, Jason and Diane Lawton, had seen what became known as the Big Blackout. It would shape their lives.

Jason, now a promising young scientist, devotes his life to working against this slow-moving apocalypse. Diane throws herself into hedonism, marrying a sinister cult leader who’s forged a new religion out of the fears of the masses.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (Dirk Gently #1) by Douglas Adams. What do a dead cat, a computer whiz-kid, an Electric Monk who believes the world is pink, quantum mechanics, a Chronologist over 200 years old, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (poet), and pizza have in common?

Time’s Eye (A Time Odyssey, #1) by Arthur C. Clarke. In an instant, Earth is carved up in time and reassembled like a huge jigsaw puzzle. Suddenly the world becomes a patchwork of eras, from prehistory to 2037, each with its own indigenous inhabitants.

The explanation for this cataclysmic event may lie in the ancient city of Babylon, where two groups of refugees from 2037—three cosmonauts and three U.N. peacekeepers—have detected strange radio signals. The peacekeepers find allies in nineteenthcentury British troops and in the armies of Alexander the Great.

The cosmonauts join forces with the Mongol horde led by Genghis Khan. Both sides set out for Babylon, vowing to win the race for knowledge—as a powerful and mysterious entity watches, waiting.

The truth is, Enoch is the last surviving veteran of the American Civil War and, for close to a century, he has operated a secret way station for aliens passing through on journeys to other stars. But the gifts of knowledge and immortality that his intergalactic guests have bestowed upon him are proving to be a nightmarish burden, for they have opened Enoch’s eyes to humanity’s impending destruction. Still, one final hope remains for the human race…though the cure could ultimately prove more terrible than the disease.

Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Way Station is a magnificent example of the fine art of science fiction as practiced by a revered Grand Master. A cautionary tale that is at once ingenious, evocative, and compassionately human, it brilliantly supports the contention of the late, great Robert A. Heinlein that “to read science-fiction is to read Simak.”

Crime Flash Fiction: Angels and Elves By Alex Z. Salinas

Deep in the stacks of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research.

Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.

Déjà Dead (Temperance Brennan #1) by Kathy Reichs. Another crime thriller with time travel theme. Her life is devoted to justice; for those she never even knew. In the year since Temperance Brennan left behind a shaky marriage in North Carolina, work has often preempted her weekend plans to explore Quebec.

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson. A magical, wonderful modern classic about the destinies of Napoleon’s faithful cook and the daughter of a Venetian boatman.

Set during the tumultuous years of the Napoleonic Wars, The Passion intertwines the destinies of two remarkable people: Henri, a simple French soldier, who follows Napoleon from glory to Russian ruin; and Villanelle, the red-haired, web-footed daughter of a Venetian boatman, whose husband has gambled away her heart. In Venice’s compound of carnival, chance, and darkness, the pair meets their singular destiny.

Ehd’s a caveman living on his own in a harsh wilderness. He’s strong and intelligent, but completely alone. When he finds a beautiful young woman in his pit trap, it’s obvious to him that she is meant to be his mate. He doesn’t know where she came from, she’s wearing some pretty odd clothing, and she makes a lot of noises with her mouth that give him a headache. Still, he’s determined to fulfill his purpose in life – provide for her, protect her, and put a baby in her.

With only each other for company, they must rely on one another to fight the dangers of the wild and prepare for the winter months. As they struggle to coexist, theirs becomes a love story that transcends language and time.

But Connie also bears witness to another potential outcome: a dystopian society of grotesque exploitation. One will become our world. And Connie herself may strike the decisive blow.

The Daughter of Time (Inspector Alan Grant #5) by Josephine Tey. A great crime fiction with time travel theme. Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history. Could such a sensitive, noble face actually belong to one of the world’s most heinous villains—a venomous hunchback who may have killed his brother’s children to make his crown secure?

Or could Richard have been the victim, turned into a monster by the usurpers of England’s throne? Grant determines to find out once and for all, with the help of the British Museum and an American scholar, what kind of man Richard Plantagenet really was and who killed the Little Princes in the Tower.

Mystery Tribune’s Reading Lists are the best way of zooming in on the most notable books across crime, mystery, horror and thriller genres. To view our collection of reading lists, please visit  here .

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The Gone World is a brilliant, complicated novel about the consequences of time travel

How do you solve a murder by jumping back and forth in time.

By Andrew Liptak

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In his debut novel, author Tom Sweterlitsch constructed a fascinating mystery with Tomorrow and Tomorrow , set in a virtual version of Pittsburgh after a terrorist attack leveled the city. In The Gone World , he introduces an even more ambitious investigation: one that jumps back and forth in time, and which could decide the fate of humanity. It’s a complicated, dazzling novel that keeps the reader hooked until the last pages.

The Gone World opens with a 20th-century NCIS agent named Shannon Moss on a training mission in the distant future of 2199. She’s part of the Naval Space Command, which runs a covert space and time-traveling program that sends Navy personnel across the galaxy and across time. On her first mission, she discovers a horrifying scene: a version of herself crucified mid-air in a broken wasteland. She’s witnessed what her agency calls The Terminus, a mysterious phenomenon which signals an apocalypse that appears to be moving closer and closer to the present. After her training, she’s called to investigate a brutal murder in her present — 1997. The apparent culprit appears to be a Navy SEAL named Patrick Mursult, once part of the same time-travel program as Moss — until his starship, the Libra , was lost on a mission.

Some spoilers ahead.

In a recent interview with Syfy , Sweterlitsch says The Gone World was inspired partly by chatting with his brother-in-law, an NCIS agent. His brother-in-law said that it would be interesting to investigate crimes by jumping forward in time to question witnesses after the heat of the moment has passed, then jumping back and applying their testimony to the investigation.

Moss hops between 1997 and 2015 a handful of times, encountering wildly different futures as her immediate investigation progresses. She quickly discovers that there’s more to this murder than meets the eye. The suspected killers are connected to some serious anti-government movements, including several terrorist attacks — and they seem to be the crew of the vanished Libra .

Moss soon learns that the Libra and the world-ending Terminus are connected. The ship’s crew discovered a planet with a terrifying life form that could destroy humanity, and they’re trying to undermine the Naval Space Command to prevent them from ever discovering the planet. In the process, they’ve accidentally created a tear in space-time that helps facilitate their actions from the far future, even as it changes around them.

Sweterlitsch plays with time in a fascinating manner, sprinkling in small details that drive home the real cost of Moss’s job. As she jumps back and forth, Moss ages in real time — she looks the same age as her mother after spending years in the future, but surprises people in the future by apparently aging exceptionally well. One person she encounters changes from a lover to a terrorist in the future as his life shifts, based on how she changes the present, while these futures go from recognizable to incredibly high-tech. The constant time shifts and the impending Terminus put pressure on Moss to not only solve the family’s murder, but figure out how it relates to the Libra’s mission.

Sweterlitsch uses the story to examine the consequences of our actions

These shifting futures let Sweterlitsch play with some big themes. How do our decisions, given enough time, change the future before us? What lengths will people go through to try to preserve the things that they love? Moss is an exceedingly resilient figure, who gives up almost everything for her mission, and it’s easy to sympathize with her as she struggles to handle the alternate versions of the futures that she visits. Sweterlitsch plays with other big consequences that time travel might have: when Moss returns to her present in 1997, she gets the feeling that the information she’s bringing back is helping private sector interests develop new technology, which might be hastening the end of the world.

The Gone World is a heady, complicated story that plays out at a brisk pace that doesn’t let go until the last page. In many ways, it feels like it blends the supernatural and cosmic elements from True Detective , and the alternate universe elements of Fringe . There’s a lot packed into this book, and while I can see why the story appeals so much to Neill Blomkamp, who’s slated to direct an adaptation of it , he certainly has his work cut out for him.

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The 35 Best Books About Time Travel

Here's what to read after you finish Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.

Every item on this page was chosen by a Town & Country editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

Gabaldon first published Outlander —the book that would eventually inspire the television series starring Caitriona Balfe as Claire and Sam Heughan as Jamie —in 1991, and the ninth novel in the series, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone , came out in November 2021.

Ahead of the seventh season of Outlander , now's the perfect time (ha) to dive into time travel books. From time traveling romance to alternate realities to murder mysteries, there's something for everyone here.

The Time Traveler's Wife

Any list about time travel books must begin with The Time Traveler's Wife , right? This bestselling novel tells the love story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who inadvertently travels through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Plot sound familiar? The book was adapted into a 2009 film starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, and a 2022 TV show starring Theo James and Rose Leslie .

Read more: 20 of the best Time Travel Films Ever Made

A Murder in Time

Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI, until one disastrous raid when half her team is murdered and a mole in the FBI is uncovered. After she recovers from her wounds, she's determined to find the man responsible for the death of her team—yet upon her arrival in England, she stumbles back in time to 1815. Mistaken for a lady's maid, Kendra is forced to quickly adapt to the period as she figures out how to get back to her own timeline. There are five books in the Kendra Donovan series , so if you love a time travel mystery, don't miss these.

Author Octavia Butler is a queen of science fiction, and Kindred is her bestselling novel about time travel. In it, she tells the story of Dana, a Black woman, who is celebrating her 26th birthday in 1976. Abruptly, she's transported back to Maryland, circa 1815, where she's on a plantation and has to save Rufus, the white son of the plantation owner. It's not just a time travel book, but one that expertly weaves in narratives of enslaved people and explores the Antebellum South.

Faye, Faraway

Diana Gabaldon herself called Faye, Faraway "a lovely, deeply moving story of loss and love and memory made real , " so you know it's going to be good. The plot focuses on Faye, a mother of two, who lost her own mother, Jeanie, when she was just 8 years old. When Faye suddenly finds herself transported back in time, she befriends her mother—but doesn't let on who she really is. Eventually, she has to choose between her past and her future.

The Eyre Affair

In this version of Great Britain circa 1985, time travel is routine. Our protagonist is Thursday Next, a literary detective, who is placed on a case when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Brontë's novel.

Bonus: The Eyre Affair is the first in a seven book series following Thursday.

The River of No Return: A Novel

Lord Nicholas Davenant is about to die in the Napoleonic Wars in 1812, and wakes up 200 years later. But he longs to return back in time to his love, Julia. When he arrives in modern society, a mysterious organization called the Guild tells him "there is no return," until one day, they summon him to London and he learns it's possible to travel back through time. A spy thriller that's also historical romance that's also time travel... Say less.

One Last Stop

Casey McQuiston's second novel ( following Red, White, and Royal blue, which is going to be a major motion picture this summer ) is a queer time-loop romance set on the Q train in New York City, and it's riveting. August is 23, working at a 24-hour diner, and meets a gorgeous, charming girl on the train: Jane. But she can't seem to meet up with her off the Q train—until they figure out Jane is stuck in time from the 1970s. How did she travel through time? Can August get Jane unstuck? Will they live happily ever after!? The questions abound.

What the Wind Knows

Anne Gallagher grew up hearing her grandfather’s stories of Ireland. When she returns to the country to spread his ashes, she is transported back in time to 1921—and is drawn into the struggle for Irish independence. There, she meets Dr. Thomas Smith, and must decide whether or not she should return to her own timeline or stay in the past. As one reviewer wrote on Amazon, What the Wind Knows is a "spectacular time travel journey filled with love and loss."

The Midnight Library: A Novel

Imagine a library with an infinite number of books—each containing an alternate reality about your life. That's the plot of The Midnight Library , where our protagonist Nora Seed enters different versions of her life. She undoes old breakups, follows her dream of becoming a glaciologist, and so much more—but what happens to her original life?

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.: A Novel

In this novel from Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland, magic existed—until 1851. A secret government organization, the Department of Diachronic Operations (or D.O.D.O. for short), is dedicated to bringing magic back, and its members will travel through time to change history to do so. As Kirkus Reviews wrote , the novel "blend[s] time travel with Bourne-worthy skulduggery." It's a delight for any fans of science fiction, with a slow burn romance between military intelligence operator Tristan Lyons and linguist Melisande Stokes.

This Is How You Lose the Time War

Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, this epistolary romantic novel tells the story of two time-traveling rivals who fall in love. Agents Red and Blue travel back and forth throughout time, trying to alter universes on behalf of their warring empires—and start to leave each other messages. The messages begin taunting but soon turn flirtatious—and when Red's commander discovers her affection for Blue, they soon embark down a timeline they can't change.

The House on the Strand

Set at an ancient Cornish house called Kilmarth, where Daphne du Maurier lived from 1967, The House on the Strand story follows Dick Young, who has been offered use of Kilmarth by an old college friend, Magnus Lane. Magnus, a biophysicist, is developing a drug that enables people to travel back to the 14th century, and Dick reluctantly agrees to be a test subject. The catch: If you touch anyone, you're transported back to the present. As the story goes on, Dick's visits back to the 1300s become more frequent, and his life back in the modern world becomes unstable.

The Kingdoms

It’s 1898 and there’s a man named Joe, who lives in London, which is, in this alternate historical, a part of the French Empire as in this version of the past, Britain lost the Napoleonic Wars. Joe has gotten off a train from Scotland and cannot remember anything about who he is or where he’s from. He soon returns to his work, and after a few years, he is sent to repair a lighthouse in Eilean Mor in the Outer Hebrides. Joe then finds himself a century earlier, on a British boat with a mysterious captain, fighting the French and hoping for a future that is different than the one he came from. If you're into time travel and queer romance and alternate history, this is for you.

The Future of Another Timeline

In 1992, 17-year-old Beth agrees to help hide the dead body of her friend's abusive boyfriend. The murder sets Beth and her friends on "a path of escalating violence and vengeance" to protect other young women. In 2022, Tess decides to use time travel to fight for change around key moments in history. When Tess believes she's found a way to make an edit to history that actually sticks, she encounters a group of time travelers bent on stopping her at any cost. Tess and Beth's lives intertwine, and war breaks out across the timeline.

Shadow of Night

The sequel to A Discovery of Witches , the plot of Shadow of Night picks up right where the story left off: With Matthew, a vampire, and Diana, a witch, traveling back in time to Elizabethan London to search for an enchanted manuscript. You really need to read the first book before reading Shadow of Night , but the series by Deborah Harkness is a swoony magical romance.

And: It's now a TV show! ( Season one is streaming on Amazon Prime Video .)

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

In The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, the same day happens again and again. Each day, Evelyn Hardcastle is murdered at 11:00 p.m at Blackheath. And each day, our protagonist Aiden Bishop wakes up in the body of a different witness—and tries to solve her murder. He only has eight days, and it's a race against time to solve Evelyn's murder and to escape the time loop.

Recursion: A Novel

In 2018 New York City, detective Barry Sutton fails to talk Ann out of jumping off a building. But before Ann falls to her death, she tells him she is suffering from False Memory Syndrome—a new neurological disease where people are afflicted with memories of lives they never lived. The dissonance between their present and these memories drives them to death. This is best read unspoiled, but it's undoubtedly a time travel story you haven't read before.

On the eve of her wedding day, Shay Garrett looks into her grandmother's antique mirror and faints. When she wakes up, she's in the same house—but in the body of her grandmother, Brandy, as a young woman in 1900. And Brandy awakens in Shay's body in the present day in 1978. It's like Freaky Friday , but with time travel to the Victorian era.

Here and Now and Then

Kin Stewart is a time traveler from 2142, stuck in 1990s suburban San Francisco. A rescue team arrives to bring Kin back to his timeline—but 18 years too late. Does Kin stay with his "new" family, and the life he's built for himself in San Francisco, or does he return to his original timeline? He's stuck between two families—and ultimately, this is a time travel tale about fatherhood.

A Knight in Shining Armor

Originally published in 1989, this romance novel features a present-day heroine and a knight from the 16th century who fall in love. Per the book's description: "Abandoned by a cruel fate, lovely Dougless Montgomery lies weeping upon a cold tombstone in an English church. Suddenly, the most extraordinary man appears. It is Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck…and according to his tombstone he died in 1564. Drawn to his side by a bond so sudden and compelling it overshadows reason, Dougless knows that Nicholas is nothing less than a miracle: a man who does not seek to change her, who finds her perfect, fascinating, just as she is. What Dougless never imagined was how strong the chains are that tie them to the past…or the grand adventure that lay before them."

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma , a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram .

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Dana lives in East Haven, CT. She works for that Ivy League institution down the street and tries to read as many books as possible in her free time. Audiobooks and print books get equal love. Also, she unapologetically judges books by their covers and makes way too many playlists (c'mon, books need a soundtrack too!). Follow her on Twitter @lucyhenley115 .

View All posts by Dana Lee

Hear me out, there’s a sub-genre of sci-fi that that has a touch of anything you could ever want: time travel books. The best time travel books come in all packages: adventure, historical fiction, romance, social commentary, mystery, humor, poetry. It really has it all. So, if you can still recite the opening credits of Quantum Leap from memory, this list is for you. Enjoy these must-read time travel books.

Here and Now and Then  by Mike Chen

Kin is a time-traveling agent from the year 2142 who gets stuck in 1990s San Francisco after a botched mission, and his rescue team shows up 18 years too late after he’s already built a life for himself. Here and Now and Then has all those warm and fuzzy sci-fi feels with just the right amount of Doctor Who level angst . Kin dealing with the circumstances of time travel and the consequences it brings about is super compelling and emotional and so, so worthy of a Murray Gold score.

The Future of Another Timeline  by Annalee Newitz

In the world of Another Timeline , time travel has been around since forever in the form of a geologic phenomena known as the “Machines.” Tess belongs to a group called the Daughters of Harriett, determined to make the future better for women by editing the timeline at key moments in history. They run up against the misogynistic group called the Comstockers working towards the opposite goal. There’s time travel, murder, punk rock concerts, nerd references, and an edit war. As Newitz recently said in an extra of their podcast, Our Opinions Are Correct , history is a  “synthesis of good fuckery” and I can’t think of a better phrase to describe this book than that.

An Ocean of Minutes  by Thea Lim

There is a deadly flu pandemic in America. Polly’s boyfriend Frank gets sick and she signs up for a one-way ticket to the future to work off the cost of Frank’s cure. They agree to meet up in the future, but Polly is rerouted to a later time where America is divided and she has no connections and no money. This is a really gorgeously written and heart-wrenching story about time travel, dystopian society, the brutality of survival in an unfamiliar world, and a character study of a normal person dealing with it all.

Kindred  by Octavia Butler

Dana is an African American woman celebrating her birthday in 1976 California when she is pulled through time to Antebellum Maryland. She saves a young white boy named Rufus from drowning and finds herself staring down the barrel of his father’s rifle. She is pulled back to her present just in time to save her life, appearing back in her living room soaked and muddy. She is repeatedly pulled back to the past encountering the same young man.  Over the course of these harrowing episodes, Dana realizes her connection to Rufus and the challenge she is faced with. This is a brilliant, thought-provoking, and intense book that is required reading for so many reasons least of which is time travel.

Alice Payne Arrives  by Kate Heartfield

Alice Payne Arrives is a quick romp through time with some truly amazing female characters. Alice Payne is a half-black queer woman in 1788 England living in her father’s deteriorating mansion. She’s also a notorious masked highway robber and her partner is an inventor. Prudence is a professional time traveler from the 22nd century working fruitlessly to try and change one small event in 1884. The two women cross paths and work together to put Prudence’s plan to end time travel in motion. This novella packs a lot of action and time travel goodness and there’s a sequel called Alice Payne Rides . It also contains one of the realest lines of any of the time travel books I’ve read: “2016’s completely fucked.”

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe  by Charles Yu

Charles Yu is a time machine repairman searching for his missing father, “accompanied by TAMMY, an operating system with low self-esteem, and Ed, a nonexistent but ontologically valid dog.” He receives a book from his future self that could help him locate his father. The book is called How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe and he wrote it. Hi, this book is super cool, fun, clever, and weird in the best ways. It has the highest distinction I can give a sci-fi book and that is warm and fuzzy.

The Psychology of Time Travel  by Kate Mascarenhas

Four female scientists invent time travel in 1967. One of the scientists, Bee,  suffers a mental breakdown just before they’re about to go public with their findings. The other three exile Bee from the project to save face. Fifty years later time travel is a normal part of life and a huge business. It’s regulated by the Conclave, founded by three of the original scientists, which seeks to self govern all aspects of time travel. The Psychology of Time Travel  serves up time travel with a locked-door mystery and the payoff of alternating perspectives and timelines slowly coming together.

The River of No Return  by Bee Ridgeway

At the moment of his death on a Napoleonic battlefield, Lord Nicholas Falcott wakes up in the 21st century. He’s recruited by a time travel agency known as The Guild for training. Julia Percy lives in 1815 England and after the death of her grandfather seeks to find her place in a world where meddling with time is commonplace. There’s a whole lot going on here: romance, betrayal, double-agents, and drawing on emotion to facilitate time jumps, leading to my favorite line: “Though really they were probably both insane. Two grown men dressed up like Mr. Darcy, holding hands behind a tree, trying to pull themselves by the heart strings back to the long ago.”

This is How You Lose the Time War  by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Blue and Red are fighting on opposite sides of an endless time war. They begin to exchange letters on the battlefield, first as a boast, then as an exploration of friendship across enemy lines, and finally as a romance. I have previously described this as “poetic sci-fi realness.” I could be more professional and say that this is an epistolary work of rival agents forming a bond despite their opposition, but like I can’t okay. This book is so intricate and beautiful and the letters are not on paper, they could be in the dregs of a teacup or the rings of a tree, and I’m not crying you’re crying.

All Our Wrong Todays  by Elan Mastai

Tom is a misfit in a utopian world, and he goes back in time and accidentally screws up the future. This mishap leaves him stranded in our 2016, but what we think of as the real world is a dystopian wasteland to Tom. He eventually finds different versions of everything he knows and maybe even his soulmate. Tom has to decide whether to fix the timeline and bring back utopia or live in this new version of the world he’s created. Probably me as a time traveler, tbh.

The Fire Opal Mechanism by Fran Wilde

The Fire Opal Mechanism  is technically a sequel to The Jewel and Her Lapidary , but it can definitely be read as a stand-alone. Ania is a librarian at the last university desperately trying to save as many books as she can. All the other universities have fallen to the Pressman, an extremist group bent on destroying all the world’s books and replacing them with a generic, self-updating compendium available to everyone regardless of economic class. Jorit, branded a thief, is on the run just trying to survive long enough to afford passage on a ship away from all these problems. They team up and inadvertently discover time travel, but will it help them fix the present? This is really beautifully written, especially the passages about books: “Touching a book, for Ania, was like touching a person’s fingertips across the years. She could feel a pulse, a passion for the knowledge the book contained.”

The Silver Wind  by Nina Allan

The Silver Wind  is a series of stories linked by the character Martin Newland. Each story is like an alternate universe brought about by time machines and time travel. As Allan describes on her website : “While the overarching theme of this book might properly be found in Martin’s struggle with infinity, its individual chapters deal with those small acts of creative defiance that determine our transcendence of ordinary mortality.” A thoroughly thought-provoking déjà vu experience.

What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

Anne Gallagher travels to Ireland to scatter the ashes of her beloved grandfather. She is pulled back in time to the Ireland of 1921 and is mistaken as the long-lost mother of a young boy. She assumes this identity and is drawn into the lives of those around her and the political unrest of the time. It’s a historical romance perfect for fans of Outlander.

The Shining Girls  by Lauren Beukes

What if time travel fell into the hands of a criminal?  The Shining Girls  is the story of serial killer named Harper Curtis who stumbles upon an abandoned house in Depression-era Chicago that allows him to travel in time. He chooses his victims and visits them at different times of their lives before returning for the kill. Kirby survives Harper’s attack and, along with a former homicide reporter, tries to unravel the mystery before anyone else dies. This book is wild, W-I-L-D. There’s a lot of violence, so it might not be for everyone, but it’s such an interesting take on the time travel story.

Version Control  by Dexter Palmer

Set in the near-future, Rebecca works in the customer support department of the dating site where she met her husband Phillip. He is a scientist building a causality violation device (definitely not a time machine!). But Rebecca can’t help but feel that there’s something wrong with the present. So, this is kind of about living with technology and kind of about relationships and overcoming tragedy and also time travel. Intelligent and poignant but make it sci-fi.

How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler  by Ryan North

Starting out with an FAQ guide to your rented time machine, How to Invent Everything humorously goes through the history of well, everything. From how to determine what time period you have landed and are now stuck in to inventing language and electricity it’s a very Hitchhiker’s Guide -ish look at history presented as a guide for creating the things you’ll miss when you’re stranded in an earlier timeline than your own.

Time After Time  by Lisa Grunwald

It’s 1937 and Joe Reynolds is a hard-working railroad man at Grand Central Station. Nora Lansing is an aspiring artist and the last thing she remembers is her train crashing in 1925. They meet at the big clock and Joe walks Nora home, but she disappears in the street. She reappears one year later and meets Joe again. Realizing she’s jumping in time and trapped in Grand Central for mysterious reasons that might have something to do with Manhattanhenge, Nora and Joe try to unravel the mystery before she disappears again. For me this was a time travel books mashup of The Clock meets Kate & Leopold meets Gentleman in Moscow and I was very about it.

TimeKeeper  by Tara Sim

TimeKeeper takes place in an alternate Victorian world where time is controlled by clock towers. Danny is a young clock mechanic enamored with his new apprentice, who turns out to be the Enfield clock spirit, Colton. Bombings at other towers start to occur and broken clocks mean the towns they oversee will be frozen in time. The romance between Danny and Colton is very adorable and the race against literal time is an exciting backdrop. It’s the first in a trilogy.

Bones of the Earth by Michael Swanwick

If you’re a time travel fan then this sentence from the publisher’s summary is sure to get you excited, “World-renowned paleontologist Richard Leyster’s universe changed forever the day a stranger named Griffin walked into his office with a remarkable job offer…and an ice cooler containing the head of a freshly killed Stegosaurus.” Time travel allows a group of scientists to go back and study dinosaurs up close in their natural environment. If you are now humming the Jurassic Park theme, please know, So. Am. I.

Just One Damned Thing After Another (Chronicles of St. Mary’s) by Jodi Taylor

There is so much going on in this whirlwind adventure that if you blink you’ll miss a major plot point.  Just One Damned Thing After Another  is just the first book in a series of the adventures of St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research as they rattle around through time trying to answer history’s unanswered questions. There are currently 11 books published and forthcoming and a ton of short stories that fill in the blanks between adventures. Taylor also has a spinoff time travel series, The Time Police, with the first book just out called Doing Time .  It follows three hapless new time police recruits as they try to keep the timeline straight.

Looking for more of the best time travel books? Check out these timey-wimey posts:

Time Travel Romances

7 of the Best Alternate Timeline Books

The Lack of Black Characters in Time Travel Romance

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Best Time Travel Books

Embark on a journey through time with this list of widely acclaimed time travel books. whether for adventure, historical exploration, or quantum conundrums, these titles have been recognized and repeatedly highlighted by top science fiction reviewers and readers alike..

Best time travel books 🕰️

Curated by our reviewers this week

TUESDAY 16th APRIL, 2024

Time travel.

The finale to the Syd Brixton trilogy is a continuation of the fast pace and action of the others in the series, leading to a s...

Reviewed by Rachel Deeming

The Movement (Time Corrector Series Book 2)

A sequel just as lyrical, engaging and beautiful as the original volume

Reviewed by Adam Wright

The Timepiece and the Girl Who Went Astray

Ollie Simmonds

An exciting book with in-depth characters that demonstrates a great written narrative mixed with an interesting and original st...

Reviewed by Daniel Crocker

The Normandy Club

Bill Walker

A German blitz brings war to Avalon. Can two imperfect heroes erase an alternate history to restore the past?

Reviewed by Abby Lane

Sunder of Time

Kristin McTiernan

Sunder of Time by Kristin McTiernan was such a pleasant surprise that's perfect for fans of Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.

Reviewed by Lauren Stoolfire

The Whisper

Jared Millet

If you're a fan of classic Hollywood film noir, Flash Gordon, The Shadow, and Back to the Future, I have a feeling you'll enjoy...

Outsmarting Time

Laura Hanks Kline

OUTSMARTING TIME does exactly what a sci-fi should do; it messes with your head and feeds you pieces of information in a race t...

Reviewed by Alexia Chantel

Welcome our new time travel reviewers 👋

Apply to become a reviewer.

Daniel Crocker

Time travel.

My name is Dan Crocker graduate in English Literature & Creative Writing (First Class) from the University of Central Lancashire I am looking forward to joining the discovery community and discovering some great new reads!

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Rachel Deeming

It's not easy to sum up who I am, enough to make me interesting anyway, so what's essential to know? I love to read. I love to review. I love to write and blog at scuffedgranny.com. Short stories and poems are my main writing successes, winning runner-up plaudits on Reedsy Prompts and Vocal.media.

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25 Best Time Travel Books That Defy Time and Genre

By looking at the earliest iterations of traveling through time to the modern interpretations, we’ve collected the best time travel books. These best books vary from classic middle grade to contemporary romance. Each book defies a single timeline and a single defining genre.

25 Best Time Travel Books

The following books all feature time travel as a foundational element to the plot. In some, time travel is a narrative device which reveals more about the main character. Meanwhile, in others it is the hard-and-fast time machine that perhaps springs to mind. The inner workings of how the time travels functions are explained, or not explained, to various degrees.

Books about time travel have been around for more than a century and dip into almost every other genre. The picks on this list can also be categorized as romance or thriller, from middle grade to young adult to adult.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but is our recommendations for the best time travel books. If your favorite book about time travel isn’t on this list, leave a comment below to let other readers know your recommendation.

25. The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

Most time traveling books imbue a lesson about life and the importance of the small moments. This often occurs through a protagonist who, even if they aren’t perfect, is trying to be better. But what if the ability to travel through time landed in the hands of someone evil? That’s what Lauren Beukes explores in The Shining Girls.

This horror sci-fi is about a killer who finds a portal to the past. He then uses it to track, visit, and murder his victims.

Except one victim, Kirby Mazrachi, survives his attack. Now Kirby will do whatever it takes, no matter how improbable, to bring her attacker to justice.

24. Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister

In a similar vein, Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister is a combination of the 1993 movie Groundhog Day and murder. That’s because the main character is up late waiting for her son to return home when she sees the impossible. Her son kills a stranger right in front of their house.

With her son in custody and a million questions swirling in her mind, the main character goes to sleep and wakes up the day before yesterday. Each morning she wakes up one day earlier searching for the reason her son committed the murder, determined to find it.

23. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

The first book in the Ruby Red Trilogy veers slightly from the previous mystery thriller recommendations. That’s because Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier is a young adult romance with a historical fiction timeline. The trilogy is translated into English by Anthea Bell.

It follows sixteen-year-old Gwen who lives with her eccentric family in London. A time traveling gene runs through the female half of her lineage. However, Gwen was never introduced to the secrets of time travel as the gene was supposed to have skipped Gwen.

So, she is completely unprepared when she starts taking uncontrolled leaps into the past. Gwen needs to learn the ropes fast, while also dealing with her incredibly attractive time traveling partner Gideon.

22. Recursion by Blake Crouch

The time travel in the world of Recursion by Blake Crouch is slightly different than other recommendations, but the importance of memory is still paramount in this setting.

Barry Sutton, a cop in New York City, is investigating False Memory Syndrome. This is a new phenomenon that is driving victims to insanity.

The mysterious affliction is inserting memories into the minds of its victims. Most cannot cope with the onslaught of trauma. Barry and neuroscientist Helena Smith are the only ones who stand a chance at defeating this terrifying opponent.

21. Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Next in our list of the best time travel books is a classic: Hyperion by Dan Simmons. This is a sci-fi space opera which takes place on the world of Hyperion. It is the first book in a quartet with an additional prequel and sequel.

In this world there is a creature called the Shrike. Some worship it, some fear it, and some wish to destroy it. Structures move backward through time in the Valley of the Time Tombs and this is where the Shrike waits.

But on the eve of Armageddon, seven pilgrims set forth to Hyperion. They seek answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each pilgrim carries hope and a secret, and one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.

20. An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim

This is a story about love and the endurance of humanity. It unfolds against a backdrop of time travel, a flu pandemic, and sacrifice. An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim follows two people separated by time.

When Polly’s boyfriend Frank catches the deadly flu virus that is rampaging its way across America, she will do anything to save him. Even agree to a radical contract with a company that has invented time travel to work as a bonded laborer. If she agrees, the company will pay for Frank’s treatment.

Polly and Frank agree to meet in twelve years’ time in Galveston, Texas. But when Polly is sent an additional five years in the future, everything is thrown into question. Now Polly must try to find Frank, see if he is alive, and if their love still rings true.

19. The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley is another romance that involves themes of loss, grief, and identity.

Eva and Katrina spent their summers as children in Cornwall, so when Katrina dies that is where Eva returns to spread her ashes. But Eva must confront the metaphorical ghosts of her past. As well as the very real ghosts she finds in the home where she is staying.

That’s because in this home Eva can travel through time back to the eighteenth century. She finds herself interacting with the inhabitants who lived there then. She also finds herself falling for one of them, Daniel Butler, and needing to choose between the life she knows and the past she feels so drawn towards.

18. This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Another romance, This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is equally ethereal and unexpected. It is written in the form of letters between two enemies from opposing sides of a war who slowly, through their shared correspondence, fall in love.

Known only as Red and Blue, their letters begin as taunts, then praise, and then something more. The prose in this book feels more like poetry. As Red and Blue traverse the strands of time and history to weave their own attacks in this War or snip others, we learn more about them, the intimacy of their correspondence, and the chances of their happily-ever-after.

17. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

No list of the best time travel books would be complete without Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, because it has become a beloved modern classic. Claire and Jamie’s love story has sold millions of copies and sprung from the pages into a hit TV adaptation. But this is where it all began.

In 1945, as Claire enjoys a second honeymoon with her husband in Scotland, she walks through an ancient stone circle and finds herself in 1743. Claire does not understand the forces which propelled her back in time, nor does she fully understand the fiery passion she feels for James Fraser, who has her questioning her vows of holy matrimony.

16. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Another book that has become synonymous with time travel and likely immediately springs to mind is The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. It too has a popular screen adaptation with a 2009 movie and a more recent 2022 television series.

It follows the love story of Clare and Henry as they try to navigate their lives with Henry’s genetic condition that causes him to travel sporadically through time. They first met when Clare was six and Henry 36, then married when Clare was 22 and Henry was 30. Their fight for each other is moving and unforgettable.

15. All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

The future imagined by those in the 1950s was remarkable. In the world of All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai, it was also accurate. What we think of as the real world is actually an offshoot that feels like a dystopian wasteland when Tom Barren finds himself in our version of 2016 after a time traveling mishap.

But in this alternate reality Tom finds versions of his family, his career, and the love of his life. Now, Tom must make a decision on whether to he needs to fix his mistake, or if he should forge out a new life in this unpredictable reality.

14. The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer

The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer opens in 1985 and depicts the various lives Greta might have lived, if she had been born in a different time.

It all starts when Greta begins psychiatric treatment for her depression after the death of her twin brother and a difficult break up. Through her treatment she begins to experience alternative versions of her life in 1918 and 1941. Each comes with its own hardships and losses, but if she had a chance to choose, where would Greta stay?

13. Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor

The next recommendation in our list of the best time travel books is the first in The Chronicles of St Mary’s series. Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor follows a group of time traveling historians who try to stay under the radar, but don’t always succeed. It is a fun adventure-filled read.

That’s because the members of St Mary’s Institute of Historical Research have a penchant for disaster as they investigate major historical events in contemporary time. While they always intend to observe quietly, they quickly realize it’s not just History they’re fighting.

12. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

This is another book which follows scholars and academics through time travel and is also the first book in a series. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis is the first book in the Oxford Time Travel series. It explores universal themes of evil, suffering, and the resilience of the human spirit.

Kivrin prepared for her next on-site study by receiving inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth-century and crafting an alibi for a woman traveling alone. Her instructors in the modern day were busy with the painstaking calculations to send her to where she needed to be.

But then a crisis strands Kivrin in a time of superstition and fear. She finds herself becoming an unlikely angel of hope to those around her.

11. Time and Again by Jack Finney

Time and Again is the first book in the Time duology by Jack Finney. It follows a young man who is enlisted into a secret government experiment.

Si Morley finds himself transported from mid-twentieth century New York City to 1882. While enchanted by the city he solves a 20th-century mystery by finding its 19th-century roots. He also falls in love with a beautiful young woman and must choose between the past or the present.

10. The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

An alternative history standalone, The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley asks the question of whether it is worth changing the past to save the future when it costs you everyone you’ve ever loved.

Joe Tournier doesn’t remember anything about his life before he stepped off a train onto the soil of 19th-century England, which is a French colony. The only clue he has is an old postcard of a Scottish lighthouse from 100 years ago. The post card is written in English, which is illegal, and signed with an M.

His search for his identity begins with who wrote this postcard. It will see Joe travel from French-ruled London to rebel-owned Scotland. He will remake history, and himself.

9. The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway

More than halfway through our list of the best time travel books is The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway. It presents another alternative history between London and France.

Lord Nicholas Falcott was dying on a Napoleonic battlefield when he suddenly awoke in 21st-century London. A secretive group of time travelers, The Guild, told him there is no return. But Nick’s heart belongs to Julia Percy back in 1815 and Nick is willing to gamble everything against the rules of time itself for their reunion.

8. One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

After quite a few romantic time traveling stories, this recommendation ventures into a different type of relationship and form of love. One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle follows Katy to the Amalfi Coast of Italy as she grieves the loss of her mother.

Katy and her mother, Carol, were supposed to travel to Positano together; it is a town where Carol spent the summer before she met Katy’s father. While Katy travels to Italy alone, she soon feels her mother’s spirit all around her, and then she finds her mother walking through the streets, somehow 30 years old again.

Katy has gotten her mother back and has one Italian summer to get to know her as a young woman. But Katy will have to reconcile her version of her mother who knew everything with the young woman before her still figuring it out.

7. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

This next recommendation quickly became a beloved favorite following its publication, but before you read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig you may want to check out the detailed content warnings as it does have themes of suicide ideation and depression.

Despite the heavy themes, Haig is able to create a world that is lyrical, poignant, and strangely uplifting. Between life and death in this world there is a library which holds all the different variations of your life: The might-have-beens.

Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library with the possibility to change her life for a new one. As she travels through the stacks she must decide what is truly fulfilling in life and what makes life worth living in the first place.

6. 11/22/63 by Stephen King

While he is known as the King of Horror, Stephen King has a grasp on writing that shines through in any genre he tackles. That much is true for 11/22/63 which takes place in two timelines as an English teacher from Maine attempts to stop the Kennedy assassination.

It begins in 2011 as Jake Epping’s friend shares with him the time traveling portal in the back of his diner. Jake agrees to this daring, and seemingly impossible, mission to prevent the Kennedy assassination. But in this world of a bygone era, Jake falls in love with a high school librarian and then encounters a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald…

5. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

As we begin counting down the top five best time travel books, this is where we start to feature the classics that undoubtedly affected the course of the genre. The first of these classics is Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

The time travelling aspect of this book is part of the narrative and how Billy Pilgrim relives his life in a slightly disorienting and non-linear way. Centering on the infamous bombing of Dresden during the Second World War, Billy Pilgrim’s odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we fear the most.

4. The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov

Our fourth pick for the best time travel book is The End of Eternity by Issac Asimov. This is a dystopian science fiction in which humanity is split between Eternals and non-Eternals.

Andrew Harlan is an Eternal, which means it is his job to travel through the past and present to monitor Time and, when necessary, change it. But when he falls in love with a non-Eternal woman, he decides to use the powers at his disposal to twist time for his own purposes, so he and the woman he loves can carve out a life together.

3. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

This next best time travel book is an evocative story about friendship and family. A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in the Time Quintet by Madeleine L’Engle, which is a middle grade classic.

It begins at the Murry house when a stranger beckons Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe on a dangerous and extraordinary adventure. It is a journey through time that will threaten their lives and our universe, but the life of Meg’s father hangs in the balance.

2. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Our penultimate pick for the best time travel book explores a theme that has not yet featured on our list, which is how time travel can be an incredibly different experience with the dangers of racism. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler is heralded as the first science fiction novel written by a Black woman; Butler and this novel have become a cornerstone of the genre.

In 1976 California, on her 26th birthday, Dana finds herself hurtled through time to antebellum Maryland. She saves a drowning white boy, but finds herself staring down the barrel of a shotgun. She escapes with her life when she is inexplicably transported back to the present, but this is just the beginning of multiple time traveling experiences with the same young man, which makes Dana realize the challenge she has been given.

1. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

Finally, our best time travel book is the 1895 classic that literally coined the term which has now become universal: The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Even though it was written more than a century ago, Wells’s novel remains a striking commentary on the duality of human nature.

It is a first-hand account of the main character’s journey from Victorian England to 800,000 years in the future. There the Time Traveller encounters an Earth that is slowly dying and populated by two races: The ethereal Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks. It depicts humanity’s greatest hopes, and its darkest fears.

Final thoughts on the best time travel books

In conclusion, here is a recap of our picks for the best time travel books. These recommendations span more than a century of literature. This list includes the first instances of time travel in fiction and other cornerstone classics that shaped this trope.

Books about time travel can go in countless directions, which makes it a building block for so many other genres: Middle grade, young adult, romance, or mystery. Regardless of whichever genre these time travel books share, each one offers a poignant reflection into the psyche of humanity. Each book on this list explores a what-if and the conclusions reveal a little bit more about our lived reality.

• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (1895)
• Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (1979)
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962)
• The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov (1955)
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)
• 11/22/63 by Stephen King (2011)
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (2020)
• One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle (2022)
• The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway (2013)
• The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley (2021)
• Time and Again by Jack Finney (1970)
• Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (1992)
• Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor (2013)
• The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer (2013)
• All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai (2017)
• The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (2003)
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (1991)
• This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (2019)
• The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley (2011)
• An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim (2018)
• Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1989)
• Recursion by Blake Crouch (2019)
• Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier (2009)
• Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister (2022)
• The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (2013)

More Book Recommendation Resources

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• BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

The 21 Best Time Travel Books You Haven’t Read Yet

Take a quantum leap into the world of time travel lit.

• Photo Credit: Uros Jovicic / Unsplash

Time travel, like robots, cryosleep and aliens, is one of the tropes that makes the sci-fi genre so much fun—especially because every author is able to add their own rules to the mind-bending phenomenon. With that in mind, reading a new time-travel book is like finding a whole new dimension: the portals leading to brilliantly imagined worlds are infinite. 

Take a quantum leap with us as we explore the best time travel books you haven’t read, but should definitely check out. Where we’re going, you don’t need roads—but you do need a fully charged e-reader.

Needle in a Timestack

By Robert Silverberg

This collection of short stories explores many common themes of science fiction, from time travel to space travel. In the title story, a woman's marriage is in jeopardy when her jealous ex-husband decides to change time. This story is also the inspiration for a new movie starring Leslie Odom Jr., Cynthia Erivo and Orlando Bloom.

The Book of Kells

By R. A. MacAvoy

An enchanting adventure through Celtic mythology, R.A. MacAvoy’s Book of Kells is as lush in character development and fantastical imagery as the real-life hills of Ireland’s verdant countryside. MacAvoy’s hero, the meekly mannered John Thornburn, and heroine, the strong-willed Derval, travel back to 10th-century Ireland to avenge a Viking attack. Part fantasy, part science fiction and completely captivating, this book will make you feel as though you've been transported back 11 centuries, too.

RELATED: 10 More Books to Read if You Like Game of Thrones

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

By Mark Twain

Though it’s not quite as famous as Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer , Mark Twain’s forays into time travel are just as deserving of your attention, especially if you’re a sci-fi fan. In fact, this 1889 satire is often lauded as one of the foundational works of the subgenre—for reference, H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine , the first novel to imagine a time travel apparatus, wouldn’t be published for another 6 years. This novel sends Hank Morgan, a supervisor at a Connecticut firearms factory, back to the year 528. Once there, he must deal with churlish knights, fears of science, and the little issue of having been sentenced to burn at the stake. 

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The Sterkarm Handshake

By Susan Price

A sort of time-traveling star-crossed lovers’ tale, Susan Price’s Sterkarm Handshake introduces you to protagonist Andrea Mitchell, a young anthropologist who’s been sent from 21st-century Great Britain to 16th-century Scotland to deal with the Sterkarms, a primitive tribe standing in the way of her corporation’s access to Scotland’s unlimited and untouched natural resources. Love, loss, and where-do-your-liberties-lie await.

Shadow of Ashland

By Terence M. Green

A small-town Kentucky mystery that will keep you guessing until the final chapter, Shadow of Ashland is Terence M. Green’s time-shifting novel that Entertainment Weekly simply touts as “THE BOOK YOU HAVE TO READ.” It all begins with Leo Nolan’s dying mother asking him to find her brother who went missing 50 years prior. Lucky for Leo, his uncle has just sent him a letter. The odd part: It’s postmarked 1934. So begins Leo’s journey.

RELATED: 8 Historical Mystery Novels That Will Transport You Back in Time

Everyone Says That at the End of the World

By Owen Egerton

This humorous, absurdist take on science fiction starts about four days before the world’s end—apparently, the world is an asylum for the incurably insane, and it’s about to be shut down. Milton and Rica, a couple who are expecting their first child, decide to attempt survival and wind up on a cross-country trip that involves ghosts, angels, inter-dimensional time travelers and a whole lot more. With a whole lot of luck, they just might make it out alive.

Time and Again

By Clifford D. Simak

A staple on any sci-fi fiend’s bookshelf, Clifford Simak is a virtuoso and Grandmaster when it comes to crafting sci-fi as stimulating as it is imaginative. In Time and Again , a multilayered space odyssey originally written in 1951, cosmic voyager Asher Sutton resurfaces after 20 years of being lost in space. His destiny: to change the world. Obvious, right? But how will he do it and what is the secret he’s harboring? Now, that just may blow your mind.

The Shadow Hunter

By Pat Murphy

Nebula Award-winning author Pat Murphy unlocks the mysteries of time with her debut, a faunal sci-fi novel called The Shadow Hunter . Following a Neanderthal boy who’s transported from the ancient past into a futuristic dimension beyond his understanding, The Shadow Hunter plays with culture conflicts and clashes to deliver a survival tale that’s at once enthralling and spiritual.

RELATED: 13 Groundbreaking Female Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors  

The Cat's Pajamas

By James Morrow

James Morrow was once called “the most provocative satiric voice in science fiction” by the Washington Post , and it’s not hard to see why. This collection of 13 short stories runs the gamut from a New Jersey suburb being overrun by the dead (don’t worry, they’re do-gooders), to Columbus “discovering” a modern-day New York City, to a doctor gifting his mutant creatures with ethical superiority. 

Time Loves a Hero

By Allen Steele

Allen Steele, a two-time Hugo Award winner, expands upon his award-winning novella ... Where Angels Fear to Tread , fleshing out his thrilling narrative with what happens before, during, and after a pair of time-traveling operatives travel from the 24th century to study the cause of the Hindenburg explosion. Brilliant yet consumable hard sci-fi, Time Loves a Hero— a.k.a. Chronospace—weaves historical fact with UFO fiction to create a 340-page wormhole you’ll happily be sucked into.

The Far Arena

By Richard Ben Sapir

Here's the gist: Lucius Aurelius Eugenianus, a Roman champion gladiator encased in ice, is dug up by a Texan doing research in the Arctic. We know what you’re thinking: Sounds like Maximus Decimus Meridius meets Encino Man . But trust us, Richard Ben Sapir’s time-jumping genre-blender is way more thought-provoking than a couple of blockbusters. An old soul in a modern age, Eugeni and his colorful cast of accompanying characters turn a completely implausible story into a plausible one, thanks to Sapir’s deft use of history and fantasy.

RELATED: 15 Authors Like Dan Brown

The Dancer from Atlantis

By Poul Anderson

In this historical-romance-meets-time-travel novel, a malfunctioning future time machine sends four people from four different timelines to the year 4000 BCE, on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. Among them are American architect Duncan Reid, who came all the way from the 20th century, and Erissa, a priestess from Atlantis who has only traveled a few decades through time. Erissa is their best chance of getting back to their respective dimensions—but in order to do so, they must put themselves in grave danger.

Bones of the Earth

By Michael Swanwick

Paleo-nerds, ready the virtual shelf for Jurassic sci-fi of epic proportions. Michael Swanwick crafts a rewarding (albeit taxing and challenging) read that spans hundreds of millions of years. When Smithsonian paleontologist Richard Leyster is presented with the head of a freshly killed Stegosaurus and the opportunity to go back in time to study dinosaurs, the action begins. And, thus, the paying of attention on your part.

RELATED: 13 of the Best Dragons in Science Fiction  

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

By Charles Yu

Welcome to an incomplete and unpolished world where the laws of physics are abandoned and the inhabitants consider themselves unfinished. It’s called Minor Universe 31, and it’s the epicenter of which the action revolves in Charles Yu’s quirky how-to featuring his aptly named hero, Charles Yu; Charles’s hypothetical dog; and the apple of Charles’s eye: his feminine AI interface. Bonus: There are pictures.

Man in the Empty Suit

By Sean Ferrell

If you like a little murder mystery with your time travel, this novel is for you. Each year, the time-traveling narrator spends his birthday in a New York hotel room with all the past and future versions of himself. Unfortunately, the party gets derailed on his 39th birthday, when he finds his 40-year-old self killed by a gunshot to the head. Now, he has one year to figure out who his killer is—or else he and all the other versions of himself will cease to exist.  

The End of Eternity

By Isaac Asimov

If ever the declaration of loving someone to the end of eternity were most poignant, it’d be here, in Isaac Asimov’s time-jumping seminal novel about an Eternal whose relationship with a woman outside his elite world threatens to destroy Eternity. Considered one of the “Big Three” during his time, Asimov constructs a tale just about everyone considers “a monument of the flowering of SF.”

RELATED: 8 Heart-Racing Mystery Romance Books  

Planet of the Apes

By Pierre Boulle

Yes, that Planet of the Apes . The mega motion-picture franchise that launched in the late 60s (and again in 2001, and then 2011e) wouldn’t be a blip on the radar without the 1963 French classic from sci-fi writer Pierre Boulle. Though you may be familiar with the plot thanks to Charlton Heston’s interstellar journey to an ape-ruled planet, Boulle’s original hurls through 274 pages to a shocking climax that’s nothing like what you’ve seen on the big screen.

The Time Ships

By Stephen Baxter

In this modern-day sequel, hard SF author Stephen Baxter sets out to answer the question of what would happen had the time machine in H. G. Wells’ same-name classic fallen into the hands of the government. Baxter plays with pasts, presents, and futures to create a compelling damsel-in-distress tale with the Wells’ Eloi-Morlocks conflict at its core. 

RELATED: 7 Alternate History Books  

The Shining Girls

By Lauren Beukes

There’s a serial killer on the loose in Lauren Beukes' avant-garde time-travel novel. But he’s like no other hunter you’ve ever read about. Harper Curtis is the perfect murderer who strikes, then escapes across time. But Harper is about to meet his match: Kirby Mazrachi. And unlike his previous victims, Kirby doesn’t die. And, thus, Harper becomes the hunted. Need more enticement? Gillian Flynn is a fan. 

The Many-Colored Land

By Julian May

Julian May’s The Many-Colored Land is a literary thriller that deals not with other worlds, but with the one we all know: Earth. The year is 2034, and humans have discovered a time warp that transports them to a Pliocene Europe 6 million years in the past. Home to the Tanu and Firvulag, two opposing races, the humans work with the dwarfish Firvulag to free the world from the Tanu clutches—think time-traveling Tolkien.

Doomsday Book

By Connie Willis

A Hugo and Nebula Award winner, Connie Willis’s Doomsday Book took her five years to perfect. It’s about an Oxford history student named Kivrin who is erroneously transported from the year 2048 to the 14th century’s Black Plague, where she’s taken in by an English family and exposed to the never-ending suffering pertaining to the dark times. An action-packed drama, this one’s not. Rather, Willis is more concerned with characterizations and the will of the human spirit. And bravo for it.

Featured photo: Uros Jovicic / Unsplash  

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