Anna’s life is at at a low point. She has suffered through three miscarriages, just got divorced, left her career as a lawyer and just found out that her older brother Patrick has been in a devastating car accident while en route to pick his teenage son Joseph up from jail. With Patrick now in a coma induced state at the hospital, Anna bails out her delinquent nephew. Having just returned home from a trip to England, Scotland and Ireland, Anna is exhausted and she brings Joseph to her house to get in a good night sleep before visiting his father in the morning. Anna wakes up to the sound of someone in the living room and finds Joseph rifling through her luggage. When she grabs the package her nephew has in his hands (an old cloth given to Anna by a mysterious woman in Ireland) the two of them are propelled rather violently back in time.

Anna and Joseph are separated during the time travel. Both of them end up in Ireland in 1844, right before the great potato famine, but end up in very different situations. Anna is found half dead by a sweet family who live on the land in a small cottage. Nursed back to health by the caring Glenis, Anna is determined to find her nephew. To make ends meet, Glenis and her husband Tom take part in an illegal smuglers ring. The villagers, weary of newcomers (especially ones with American accents) believe Anna to be a spy for the British. But Glenis has a soft spot for Anna and the two grow close. Anna is worried about Joseph but also finds her own bit of happiness in the Irish countryside.

Joseph on the other hand ends up in a town far away from Anna. Taken to a great manor house after being found naked and unconscious on a local beach, Joseph finds himself in the servant’s kitchen where the healer Deirdre, who also runs the manor kitchen, is known to have ”the sight” and helps Joseph recover. Joseph is quickly taken in by the powerful yet vicious British landowner Colonel Mitford, but without first falling in love with Deirdre’s young daughter Taleen. Never having had a good relationship with his own father Patrick, Joseph enjoys the attention he receives from being the Colonel’s special guest and enjoys the benefits of living a privileged life. But how long will his good graces last?

While Anna tries to locate Joseph, she also tries to figure out why two seamlessly normal people would end up over a hundred years in the past. Will they ever find each other and venture to the future and their own time? Will they even want to?    

With a touch of old Irish magic, Now & Thenby Jacqueline Sheehan is a fascinating read. The author obviously researched Irish history and integrated it into her story flawlessly. The characters have real depth and I just couldn’t stop turning the pages as I had to know how everything would turn out. In fact,  I think that the author could have made the book even longer and still have kept my attention. I would highly recommend Now & Then if you are looking for a tale with some whimsical magic, interesting characters and a fully realized story.

My only issue with the book is the cover. As a by-product of the Marley and Me craze, the publisher obviously made the connection between cute dogs on the cover and selling a book. While the Irish Wolfhound Madigan does play a part in the story, it is not nearly as much as the book cover would have you think. I would have appreciated a more well-thought out cover for such a great read.

In the end I would highly recommend Now & Then as it grabbed my attention right away and never let go.

I received a copy of Now and Then by Jacqueline Sheehan by TLC Book Tours.