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Plot summary
Using alternating first-person perspectives, the novel tells the stories of Henry DeTamble (born 1963), a librarian at the Newberry Library in Chicago,and his wife, Clare Abshire (born 1971), an artist who makes papersculptures. Henry has a rare genetic disorder, which comes to be knownas Chrono-Displacement, that causes him to involuntarily travel throughtime. When 20-year-old Clare meets 28-year-old Henry at the NewberryLibrary in 1991 at the opening of the novel, he has never seen herbefore, although she has known him most of her life.
Henry begins time traveling at the age of five, jumping forward andbackward relative to his own timeline. When he leaves, where he goes,or how long his trips will last are all beyond his control. Hisdestinations are tied to his subconscious—he most often travels toplaces and times related to his own history. Certain stimuli such as stresscan trigger Henry's time traveling; he often goes jogging to keep calmand remain in the present. He also searches out pharmaceuticals in thefuture that may be able to help control his time traveling. He alsoseeks the advice of a geneticist, Dr. Kendrick. Henry cannot takeanything with him into the future or the past; he always arrives nakedand then struggles to find clothing, shelter and food. He amasses anumber of survival skills including lock-picking, self defense andpickpocketing. Much of this he learns from older versions of himself.
"It's hard being left behind. I wait for Henry, not knowing wherehe is, wondering if he's okay. It's hard to be the one who stays." | —Clare[1] | Once their timelines converge "naturally" at the library—their firstmeeting in his chronology—Henry starts to travel to Clare's childhoodand adolescence in South Haven, Michigan,beginning in 1977 when she is six years old. On one of his early visits(from her perspective), Henry gives her a list of the dates he willappear and she writes them in a diary so she will remember to providehim with clothes and food when he arrives. During another visit, heinadvertently reveals that they will be married in the future. Overtime they develop a close relationship. At one point, Henry helps Clarefrighten and humiliate a boy who abused her. Clare is last visited inher youth by Henry in 1989, on her eighteenth birthday, during whichthey make love for the first time. They are then separated for twoyears until their meeting at the library.
Clare and Henry marry, but Clare has trouble bringing a pregnancy toterm because of the genetic anomaly Henry may presumably be passing onto the fetus. After six miscarriages, Henry wishes to save Clare further pain and has a vasectomy.However a version of Henry from the past visits Clare one night andgets her pregnant; she subsequently gives birth to a daughter, Alba.Alba is diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement as well but, unlike Henry,she has some control over her destinations when she time travels.Before she is born, Henry travels to the future and meets histen-year-old daughter on a school field trip and learns that he diedwhen she was five years old.
When he is 43, during what is to be his last year of life, Henrytime travels to a Chicago parking garage on a frigid winter night wherehe is unable to find shelter. As a result of the hypothermia and frostbitehe suffers, his feet are amputated when he returns to the present.Henry and Clare both know that without the ability to escape when hetime travels, Henry will certainly die within his next few jumps. OnNew Year's Eve 2006 Henry time travels into the middle of the Michigan woods in 1984 and is accidentally shot by Clare's brother, a scene foreshadowed earlier in the novel. Henry returns to the present and dies in Clare's arms.
Clare is devastated by Henry's passing. She later finds a letterfrom Henry asking her to "stop waiting" for him, but which describes amoment in her future when she will see him again. The last scene in thebook takes place when Clare is 82 years old and Henry is 43. She iswaiting for Henry, as she has done most of her life, and when hearrives they clasp each other for what may or may not be the last time.
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