ONCE UPON A TIMEPIECE
BY
STARR WOOD
176 Pages
I rated this 9/10
About the Book:
When Conrad Sands returns a wristwatch to an old flame after 20 years apart, a remarkable chain of events begins.
The
watch passes through the hands of a gold-digger, a journalist, an
enchantress, and a professor. It touches the lives of a rogue art
collector, a domestic helper, and an environmental campaigner. It
influences a reverend's apprentice, a kept wife and a self-made man. All
of them are strangers, yet all are intricately linked in ways that none
of them see.A deeply thought-provoking novel, Once Upon a Timepiece is told through twelve inter-connected short stories. Each story can be read on its own, with a distinct plot and a sting in its tail. But the stories also join together to form a longer narrative. Along the way, the book explores humanity's relationship with time, and the unseen threads of history that bind us together.
Once Upon A Timepiece is 176 pages of pure pleasure.
Each chapter is set in a different month of the year, starting in January when Conrad Sands attempts to return a wristwatch: a 1946 Breitling Chronomat made from rose-coloured gold: to his ex-girlfriend but things don't go according to plan and from then on the watch manages to belong to a different person each month.
Each story is unique, some are funny, some have little twists, some are thought-provoking, some are a little sad but all have moral questions. The chapters are only short, but Starr Wood manages to cram so much detail into them that the characters seemed so real. Excellent story-telling.
What I enjoyed most were the novel and unusual ways that the watch changed hands, from a mistake to a set up to an accident and so on.
A delightfully entertaining book.
Once Upon a Timepiece is the debut novel from British writer, journalist and economist Starr Wood. To find out more please visit the website.
Source: I was provided with a copy of this book from Bo Tree Books in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
Wow, I really like the sound of this one, it seems so unique! Whenever I buy something I always think about where it's been so to see a whole story kind of wrapped around that concept is really cool!
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining bloggers commenting back!
Hi Alise, it is an unusual storyline, very different to anything I've read before. I don't usually read short stories but, because they're all linked by the watch, it gives you a different perspective. I thought it was very clever!
DeleteCarole