A Slip in Time

As she is going through desks and drawers, Fran comes across a key that opens Gram’s trunk, which is filled with quilts made by generations of Clark women. The key was one she had always loved as a child. Filled with nostalgia, Fran spreads the quilts across the room, and while shedding tears for the loss of her grandmother, she suddenly finds herself transported to 1875, and she is not even sure how she got there. 

Yesterday's Hopes, book two in O'Brien's newest series, A Slip in Time, continues with Dora trying to find her sister. As she becomes aware of the possibility of time travel, she begins to explore how she, too, can do the same in order to find Fran. Dora suspects her sister is in the 1880s due to some clues she left behind, so she tries to imitate the way she believes Francine has traveled using their grandmother's precious quilts, which have been passed down through generations.

Yesterday's Dreams, book three in O'Brien's series called A Slip in Time, continues with our favorite characters, Francine, Luke, Dora, and Wade. The two sisters each love a Grainger brother, but one love has been fulfilled, while the other love is torn apart by two different centuries. Fran and Luke begin to make a wonderful life for themselves while living in her family's cottage. Many ups and downs keep this couple close to our hearts, as they struggle with decisions that will affect their future with fear of being discovered, and with illness that threatens the loss of life.

Dora and Daniel find themselves in a marriage that’s barely hanging on by a thread, until a tragedy binds them together; but for how long? is more problematic than ever. Every character we have grown to know and love has a trouble or "woe" of their own. Every thought or idea of the way we expected life to turn out for them is turned upside down. Luke and Fran have a new plan for their future, but there always seem to be obstacles in their way. Can they fulfill their dream?

Having come across some heirlooms in an old secretary drawer, he handles each one carefully, wondering who they belonged to and how they were connected to him. After looking into his genealogy, he discovers a name on a Civil War medal which not only is on his family tree, but is the same name as his own. Puzzled, he picks up the Bowie knife next, but as he does so, he nicks his finger, causing a flow of blood to drip onto the leather case.

The saga of the Graingers and the Clarks continues in Twin Lake/Holton in both the 19th and the 21st centuries. Daniel has disappeared from 1881 and is back home in his own era, where he meets a strangely familiar woman in the cemetery named Virginia. They discover they have much in common as they dig through the files and papers of their own family histories. Will this woman discover the secret of time travel he has managed to keep so well hidden? Will she disrupt the lives of Fran and Dora in the 1880s once she suspects the truth? How does Daniel feel about the Dora lookalike?

When something unusual happens, it causes them to not end up in the same time and place. Daniel is concerned about Ginny, wondering how she will handle herself. Is she afraid of being on her own? Is she capable of surviving in a century that is so foreign to her? How will they ever find their way back to each other? It turns out to be more difficult than either of them thought possible. Will they eventually reunite, or will Ginny be on her own forever, lost in an era she knows nothing about? 

Changes abound in Twin Lake and Holton, as some people leave and new people arrive. There is joy to share and mysteries to solve. There is love and laughter, birth and death, and new growth. The woman called Mercy is threatened with her life, while a younger woman named Marigold tries to hold it together in order to change her life. You won’t be disappointed with the new events in town and on the farm as life goes on in Muskegon County.

It was the year 1932 when Johnny and Bobby played with their father’s pocket watch. They were shocked to discover they were mysteriously whisked away to the year 1882, where they found themselves on the boardwalk of the Twin Lake depot. When Duane London, the stationmaster, discovered them, he sent them home with Fran and Luke to be cared for until they could be reunited with their parents.

Ten years after two little boys unexpectedly arrived in 1882 for a short time-travel visit, they have changed and grown to near adult status–one a late teen in high school, and one a young man in college. They rarely mention what happened to them that day in the treehouse. In fact, it is the major cause for their distancing from one another.

In the summer of 1941, World War II is taking hold and causing havoc around the globe. Each of the Clark boys is affected in a different way. Jay wants to continue his college education and become a doctor. Bob just wants to have fun and meet girls. But events that follow will disrupt both of their lives.

How long can Fran and Dora live in a world they were not born to? How long can the sisters hold on to their lives in the 1800s before the universe takes charge and returns them to their rightful places? These are the questions they both fear, as well as the husbands they love so dearly.