1950s
2035
A01=Melissa Pace
action
Author_Melissa Pace
book club fiction
Category=FH
commercial fiction
debut fiction
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_thrillers
female protagonist
fiction
friendship
housewife
identity crisis
memory loss
mental health
mental hospital
mystery
psychological thriller
sci fi
science fiction
thriller
time
time travel
Virginia
Washington DC
Product details
- ISBN 9781250358677
- Weight: 580g
- Dimensions: 171 x 247mm
- Publication Date: 22 Sep 2025
- Publisher: Henry Holt & Company Inc
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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When a woman wakes up on a transport bus arriving at Hanover State Psychiatric Hospital, she remembers nothing of her life up to that moment, none of the dark things she’s seen - and done - that have forged her into the steely survivor she is. Dr Sherman tells her she's Dorothy Frasier, a paranoid schizophrenic committed by the state for her violent delusions. And that it’s 1954. She knows none of this is true. The only problem is, despite her fighting skills and uncanny ability to pick locks and find escape routes, she has no idea who she actually is.
Delusional episodes begin to happen more frequently, moments where she finds herself in a broken future with a ragtag team of young scientists urging her to find a doctor in 1954. Apparently, this doctor holds the key to something lying dormant in them all, something they call the Guest. When she’s moved to the Unit, a section of the hospital where Dr. Sherman experiments with electroshock therapy, she knows that she has to get out - until she has a visitor. He’s a man whose concerned, loving face she recognizes, a man her doctor says is Paul Frasier, her doting husband.
Now she is sure of nothing but she needs answers - about the Guest and about Paul, but most importantly about herself. But to find those answers, she will have to face the darkness inside her and use it as she risks her freedom, mind, and ultimately her life in a battle for the truth.
Dark Matter meets Girl, Interrupted with a feminist twist in this gripping psychological thriller perfect for fans of dystopian fiction, time travel, and shows like Black Mirror and Russian Doll.
A graduate of Wesleyan University, Melissa Pace is a former editor and writer for Elle, as well as a past finalist for the Humanitas New Voices Fellowship for emerging film and television writers. The mother of three amazing children, Pace lives with her husband in Los Angeles, and when not writing she likes to lace up her cleats and get all her ya-yas out on the soccer field. The Once and Future Me is her first novel. Connect with her on Instagram @melissadugganpace.
