In Life After Life, Kate Atkinson asks: what if you could live again and again, until you got it right?

In the year 1910, Ursula Todd arrives on a snow filled night and dies before she open her mouth. On that same night, she’s born and wails. The story goes back to the beginning time and time again. Small details change, Ursula dies again and again, but the story goes back to start each time. Atkinson makes wit and charm out of a concept that could seem gimmicky in lesser hands.

Though readers had gotten to love to her detective Jackson Brody for the last four books, this is a return to the more diverse style of her earlier inventive novels like Behind the Scenes at the Museum and Emotionally Weird. Never underestimate Atkinson’s keen eye for snappy dialogue or her ability to stun with simple profundity.