Heartwarming and life-affirming. A book that rejuvenates the soul while pushing the limits of imagination. When reading about time travel it is easy to get twisted into a pretzel. Helen Fisher does an admirable job of presenting Faye's experiences in a straightforward manner while still opening us up to the 'what ifs.' This is a book I will be recommending with relish. I am keeping this short so I don't give away too much and ruin the experience for someone else. It has been compared to 'The Time Traveler's Wife,' but the book I immediately thought of as I started reading was 'The Bookseller' and then also 'The Dream Daughter'.' I also have to say that Stephen King's '10/23/1963' came to mind as far as the timing comparisons, but that is not the feel good read this one was. If you love reading about time travel, you cannot go wrong by choosing to read this book. It is amazing!

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

How I adored this book, Faye, Faraway. There's love, time-travel, history all in one. Feels a little Outlander-ish, but of course I'm not complaining.  This was also a very emotional book!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for gifting me a digital ARC of this wonderful debut novel by Helen Fisher - 5 stars for a thoughtful, faith-filled look into our relationships and connection with the past.

Faye is happy in her life - she has a fulfilling job working with the blind, she is married to Eddie, who is studying to be a vicar, and the mother of two young girls.  She is also still mourning the loss of her mom when she was very young.  Although she was happily adopted by an older couple, details about her mom and her death were kept away from her.  One day, Faye finds a picture of her and her mom in a storage box when something amazing happens - she is transported back to the past a year before her mother died.  They are able to connect as adults and Faye is thrilled.  Until she goes back to the present and realizes that she can't tell Eddie or anyone else about what happened.  She is desperate to go back and spend more time with her mom yet afraid to do anything to alter her present life.

This book is written as if Faye is talking to you, the reader.  I loved that connection - it pulled me in and took me along for the ride.  I loved how strong Eddie's faith is and how he believed in his path without question.  That faith spills out all over this book and these characters and their relationships to each other.  There is not an unlikeable character in this book!  There is so much wisdom here about reconciling our past and coming to terms with our grief, never veering into the preachy but just so heartfelt.  Highly recommended and looking forward to more from this author in the future!

Unfortunately I had to DNF (did not finish) this one for now. The story got off to a really slow start and I just could not get into it despite reading a little over 25%. Some of the lines just felt weird and I didn't care for the protagonist. I do still think the premise of the story is interesting and know others have enjoyed so I may try to pick it up again at a later date and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first read by author Helen Fisher! I recently read the book ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ and immediately compared this book to it. The author has done a marvelous job of explaining the minute detail of time travel, that it makes you believe in the concept of time travel  and the experience of main character Faye, feels very realistic!!

Faye, lost her mother when she was eight and was raised by her elderly neighbor couple. She is married to a wonderful man named Eddie and has two daughters. The loss of her mother, is the subject she has not openly expressed to anyone or has come to terms with. One day while clearing her old stuff in attic, she finds herself traveling through time and meets her mother and 6 year old self. The story beautifully narrates Faye’s emotions, her journey to know and learn more about her mother and living & experiencing two different lives.

This is one of my favorite reads about time travel and love & bonding between mother and daughter!! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to delve themselves in a gripping story of love, courage, coming to terms with loss and ofcourse time travel!!

Thank you netgalley, gallery books & Helen Fisher for free copy of my eARC in exchange of my honest review!

FAYE, FARAWAY is a beautiful reflection on what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a friend.  For Faye, who lost her mother at age eight, finding a way to travel back in time to spend more time with her lovely mother seems like the greatest of gifts.  And because she is an adult when she time-travels, Faye has the extraordinary experience of also meeting her younger self, and getting to know her mother as a peer and a friend.  Bu Faye's adventures are not without consequence in her present or her past.  Sometimes we can know the future, but not understand it or be able to change it.  This book was a remarkable read and I plan to buy many copies as gifts just as soon as it is published.  Mothers and daughters will love talking about this book!

Like another reviewer, I feel conflicted about this book also. I love the premise and the idea of Faye going back in time  to get to know her own mother before her mother died... and also meeting herself as a little child... what a spark to my imagination!  And those scenes were written so well! On the other hand, I found the whole story slow going, and to be honest, I didn't really like the ending at all!

Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and publisher, for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

If you're looking for an escape from reality Faye, Faraway will take you there. Faye, Faraway is a heartfelt "love letter" (not the romantic kind) to anyone who wishes they could spend just one more second with someone who died-and isn't that everyone? Wouldn't it be wonderful to go back in time -not to rewrite the past but to say and do all the things we never got a chance to? Faye, Faraway is about time travel-but more importantly it's about faith, about believing in things we cannot see. There is a religious element to the story- but it fits the plot perfectly. To Helen Fisher's credit she doesn't try to rationalize or explain time travel, and ironically that makes the story all the more credible. Faye, Faraway is a magical trip-one that will make you believe those we've lost aren't really that far away afterall.

Faye is a happily married mother of two who still feels the ache of the loss of her mother as a child. When she suddenly finds herself transported back in time, she has the opportunity to befriend her mother. Faye, Faraway is a heartfelt debut novel; which spends most of the story contemplating the nature of time travel, faith, and the relationship between parents and children. Although the ending was excellent, the book overall was too slow for my taste.

This book caught my attention from the beginning and kept it throughout the book.  Faye travels through time in her box and explores the meaning of love and faith when she meets her mother who died when she was young.  I was definitely surprised by the ending!

FAYE FARAWAY
BY HELEN FISHER

WOW!!!! I have to rave about how great this story is that Helen Fisher has created for us reader's to draw inspiration from. This isn't a mournful or a tragic story it is a whimsical one about an adult daughter whom is married to a man she loves with two young daughter's who lost her mother when she was eight year's old and the magical way she finds her mother again. The heroine in this quirky, and bewitching debut's name is Faye. Faye has the perfect life but carries with her the scars of losing her mother when she was only eight years old and was adopted by an older couple whom were neighbor's who gave her a life of love.

One day Faye comes across a picture of herself at just around that age and she imagines that it was her mother who she loved so much behind the lens of the camera that took that photo. There is an old Space Hopper box that Faye unearths upstairs in her family attic and she sits inside it and it transports her back into the 1970's and she is reunited with her lovely mother living alone raising her childhood self Faye. The adult Faye that has magically been deposited back in time while her mother was alive saves the child Faye from getting hit by a car and her mother calls the adult Faye (who is now older than her mother) her Guardian Angel. What these two women find in their instant pull of gravity towards one another is the most touching and moving part of the book.

I don't usually like time travelling books or science fiction but the two times that Faye travels back to visit her mother and her younger self were my favorite sections of this novel and Five star worthy. Most of the book takes place in the present and I couldn't wait until Faye would make another travel back in time. Faye's mother Jeanie says that Faye reminds her of her own mother. One sunny perfect picturesque day the two women go into the shopping district of the quaint town and Faye spots inside the window display of a small boutique a perfect pair of children's roller skates and Faye knows in that instant that she had that exact style and pair down to the color and she just knows that she has to get them for the child Faye.

The only problem is and I am not sure why but the currency is different back in the 1970's than it is today. Faye doesn't have any money anyway so she gives the owner of the store a much younger woman named Elizabeth her diamond engagement ring to hold onto in exchange for the roller skates and Elizabeth agrees. Faye also tells Elizabeth that she is going to have a very happy life with a husband she loves and kids she will adore. Faye tells Elizabeth that her son will go missing for three days but not to worry because he will be returned to her unharmed.

I just love novels like these that are populated during kinder, gentler times. They are just so nostalgic of a time period in our country where things were a whole lot simpler. There is no Covid19 and thousand's of people dying per day. Novels written with of course a little suspension of belief are just so magical and rewarding. I know that I for one am seeking out books where all of the character's are lovable and have a good old fashioned magical feel to them in all the right places. Faye Faraway is just that kind of novel that ticks off all of the warm feelings and I promise you that if you give this one a chance you will be happy that you did. This novel was fantastic and for a few hours I got to forget about all the problems going on in the world today. Enjoy!

Publication Date: January 26, 2021

Thank you to Net Galley, Helen Fisher and Gallery Books Publishing for generously providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#FayeFaraway #HelenFisher #Gallery #NetGalley

Oh my, this was such a good story. I love time travel books and this one was very emotional. Faye’s goes back to the seventies to visit her Mother. This part of the story reminded me so much of my childhood. The plot was very good and well written. 
Many thanks to Gallery Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a really unique book. I do not know what I was expecting when I started reading it but I was pleasantly surprised. I am usually not a fan of time travel plots, but this one is definitely appealing especially for an audience that prefers more relationship centered stories. I do wish there had been a longer introduction before jumping in, just a little more detail on Faye's life. This was really well written and descriptive without being overdone.

One of the most heartbreaking yet hopeful books I’ve ever read.  Magical.   Having lost my mom this just hit my heart.   Healing and loving.  One of the best I’ve read

I first heard about this book through a library webinar I attended. As a fan of time-travel books, I found the premise interesting, a story about a woman whose mother died when she was young but who was able to go back in time to see her again. Although I didn't lose my mother as a child, I know the feeling of wanting to spend more time with a loved one you've lost. Faye discovers that there are negatives as well as positives for doing this when she comes across an old box that had originally contained a Christmas gift for her. This box serves as a time machine that can send her back to the year prior to her mother's death. While the trip back is bumpy, and Faye is bruised and battered from it, she is eager to befriend her mother who is younger than she is at the time. She also meets her young self which is an anomaly in this type of fiction. While Faye is reluctant to share her experience with anyone, including her husband who is about to enter the clergy, she confides in a blind co-worker. As she investigates the past through her time-travel trips and also through information she gathers in the present, she learns some amazing facts about her mother. The end is a twist that will surprise you but that makes sense of the plot. While this is a time-travel mystery, it's also a story about faith and family. I read the advanced reader's copy. The book releases in late January, and I highly recommend it.

I loved this one. It had the same vibe as Diane Chamberlain's "The Dream Daughter" and I really enjoyed that she went back in time and got to figure out who her mother was a person, not just as a mother. There is something crazy about how we don't really know our parents as anything other than parents because other people see them as friends, sisters, coworkers, etc. This book really explores that.

Interesting premise. Will open up a lot of discussions about what we would do if we were in Faye’s place.  It’s good to think about our loved ones who have passed and what we would like to say to them if we had another opportunity. Didn’t really like the whole god thing but I understand how it was necessary. Interesting ending. Didn’t see that coming but makes sense.

Faye’s life is good. She has an amazing husband and two wonderful daughters, but she has never been able to get over the loss of her mother at 7 years old. Suddenly Faye is thrust into 1977, the year before her mother died. She knows she must find a way to accidentally befriend her mother and her younger self. The two women bond but Faye knows she must go back to her own family eventually. Will she be able to get back?

Any book that is compared to The Time Travelers Wife is a book I want to read, and this one did not disappoint! This book was so beautifully written about loss, grief, regrets, love, etc. I was immediately pulled into Faye’s world and felt the role the loss of her mother had played into her life. I can totally see the appeal of wanting to continually go back to the past, but I also felt Elizabeth’s thoughts on leaving the past alone to be so grounded and real. I loved the side characters in this one as well, her girls, husband, best friend, caretakers were all wonderful and though they played small parts I fell in love with each of them for their own reasons. Overall, I really loved this book and did not expect the ending at all!

This novel was incredibly heartfelt and depicted an effortless sense of simple originality. I enjoyed and connected with the characters. The plot in itself was tight and focused, yet delivered a sense of wonder that I haven't felt from a story in ages. It appears as though this story will be the first of a series concerning the time-travelling tales of Faye and I can only hope to continue the saga.

Faye lost her mother when she was seven years old and now, as an adult and a mom, she wants to make every moment with her two young daughters count. But in a time-travel twist, she finds herself reeled back to 1977, the year before her mother dies. In this world of the past, Faye reconnects with her mother, who doesn’t realize she’s an adult version of her daughter. The two women form a deep friendship and she gets to know her mother in a way that had been previously impossible. While not my typical read, this book was engaging and covered grief, mother-daughter relationships and ideas about reconciling with the past. Helen Fisher manages the time travel aspect deftly and with plenty of satisfying twists and turns. Thank you to Galley Books and Netgalley for the advanced review copy of this book.