Accepting her newfound circumstances rather quickly, Stella wonders if she's been given a second chance to alter events and in doing so, avoid a family tragedy. Visiting her family home, she sees her younger self which is usually a 'no-no' in time travel. However the author provides a refreshingly different take on the time slip and Stella introduces herself as an Aunt who disappeared many years ago and is still considered missing.
The usual themes in time slip novels and movies arise, such as whether the slightest change can alter the future, or if the future is already set. Stella starts to record her memories so that she can determine if she's making any headway on changing the future. Here's where it starts to get a little too 'timey-wimey' for this reader. If Stella is successful in changing her past, then surely her memories will also change to reflect this, right? And shouldn't 2017 Stella, remember her long lost Aunty turning up and staying with her family in 1997? Things get hazy for Stella and the reader, and I found that I couldn't quite let go of the attempt to stay on track with the science fiction nature of this particular angle of the time slip narrative.
The Lost Girls is set in Sydney Australia and I enjoyed the setting in both time frames. Incorporating key historical moments within the narrative was interesting (the death of Diana, Princess of Wales for example) as were some of the internal observations Stella makes along the way. Most entertaining of all was the cold case mystery within the family.
Published in 2019, this has got to be one of my favourite cover designs of that year, don't you agree? As for whether Stella was successful in her endeavours or whether she made it back to her 'own time' in 2017, you'll just have to read the book to find out.
