The Other Year

By: Rea Frey

Narrated by: Brittany Pressley

Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Can the entire course of a life be traced back to a single moment?

On a coveted two-week beach vacation, working mom Kate Baker’s nine-year-old daughter, Olivia, vanishes suddenly among the waves—a heart-dropping incident that threatens to uproot her entire reality. But in the next moment, Olivia resurfaces, joyously splashing.

What would I do if she didn’t come up? Kate wonders. How would I live without her?

In another set of circumstances that hold a different fate, Kate doesn’t have to wonder. Because in that “other” world, in the pulse-pounding seconds after Olivia goes under, she doesn’t come back up.

Told in parallel timelines, Kate begins to live two lives—one in which Olivia resurfaces and one in which she doesn’t. In the reality that follows her daughter’s death, she maneuvers through every mother’s worst nightmare, facing grief, rage, and the question of purpose in the aftermath of such profound loss. She endures, day by day, in a world without her daughter.

In her alternate timeline, while she explores a tremulous romance with her best friend, Jason, she finds herself grappling with the ex-husband who abandoned Kate and Olivia years prior. Even as Kate scrambles to hold her daughter close, Olivia pulls further away. The line between joy and loss seems to get thinner with each passing day.

Woven into a single story, both Kates discover a breathtaking fragility and resilience in their respective journeys. Bringing to light the drastic polarities dire circumstances often create, The Other Year explores truths about love, loss, and the sharp turns any life can take in the blink of an eye.

“In this world-altering women's fiction novel, single mother Kate Baker looks away for a single moment, only to lose sight of her daughter in the ocean. As a result, her world splits into two separate realities: one where she gets to keep being a mother and the other where she doesn't. The message is clear: Love your people. A tear-jerker with heart.”—Brenda Novak, New York Times bestselling author

• Contemporary women’s fiction
• Stand-alone novel
• Book length: 95,000 words

©2023 Rea Frey (P)2023 Harper Muse

Great concept 

The book started out with a wonderful concept and really hooked me and then it just faded out and was the slowest read in a while 

If it wasn’t for Brittany Pressley the rating would be zero

There is so much potential for this story. It drug on, and there was no climax. There was no true resolution.

Dull. Boring. Whiny. Endless. Oh, what could have been. Did I mention how boring this novel was?!

What I thought would be a well written, emotional novel was just plain boring.
Did I mention now boring it was?!

Great “sliding doors” story

This book followed the idea in the movie “sliding doors” and touches on the importance of every moment in our lives. The author takes us through two journeys and “what if” scenarios to show how a situation can play out so differently as a result of a single moment of judgement. The story makes you really think about fate vs writing our own destinies and while it hits hard as a mom, it also gives you hope that there is some joy to be found in even the worst nightmares.