The Time Traveler's Wife

Audrey Niffenegger’s first novel, *The Time Traveler’s Wife*, came out in 2003. It centers on Henry, who has a genetic condition making him time travel without warning, and his wife Clare, an artist who deals with his unpredictable disappearances. Niffenegger started the book feeling frustrated with love and used the story as a metaphor for her own failed relationships. The central relationship came to her suddenly and gave the novel its title. Critics have placed the book in both science fiction and romance categories.

The small San Francisco publisher MacAdam/Cage released it. It became a bestseller after author and family friend Scott Turow praised it on NBC’s *Today*. By March 2009, it had sold nearly 2.5 million copies in the U.S. and U.K. Many reviewers admired Niffenegger’s fresh take on time travel. Some praised the emotional depth of the couple’s portrayal, while others found her writing melodramatic and the plot emotionally trite. The book won the Exclusive Books Boeke Prize and a British Book Award.

Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema bought the film and TV rights. A 2009 film adaptation starred Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, and a television series debuted on HBO and HBO Max on May 15, 2022.

The novel uses alternating first-person viewpoints. It follows Henry DeTamble (born 1963), a librarian at Chicago’s Newberry Library, as he visits a child who will become his wife, Clare Anne Abshire (born 1971), a paper sculptor. His uncontrolled time travel stems from a rare genetic disorder that is never formally named in the novel. When 20-year-old Clare meets 28-year-old Henry at the library in 1991, he has never seen her, though she has known him most of her life.

Henry started time traveling at age five, jumping forward or backward relative to his own timeline. He cannot control when he vanishes, where he goes, or how long trips last. His destinations tie to his subconscious—often places and times from his own past. Stress can trigger jumps; he jogs to stay calm and remain present. He seeks future pharmaceuticals to control his condition and consults geneticist Dr. Kendrick. He cannot bring anything with him, so he arrives naked and must find clothing, shelter, and food. He learns lock-picking, self-defense, and pickpocketing, often from older versions of himself (a Bootstrap paradox).