Across Time by Linda Kay Silva

Publisher:              Bella Books


Have you ever known something before it happened? Have you ever known the answer to a question without really knowing where you got the information? Do you believe in soul mates?

Jessie Ferguson thinks her parents are totally destroying her life. They've torn her away from her friends and school in California to move to a small town in Oregon where they plan to renovate an old house into a bed and breakfast. They hope they are saving Jessie from the drugs and sex she was involved with, but all she can think about at first is getting out of the town. 

Then things begin to change. Jessie meets Madam Ceara, the town fortune teller, who seems to be able to read people's minds. Ceara not only isn't surprised when Jessie says that there is a room at the house that keeps appearing and then disappearing, but encourages her to explore what the room means. Jessie finds herself passing through a portal that carries her two thousand years into the past to meet Cate, a Druid priestess and a previous incarnation of the soul Jessie now possesses. Cate has been sent into the future by two powerful Druid leaders Maeve and Lachlan in a desperate search for information. The Romans are intent on destroying all of the Druids in Britain and Cate needs details from Jessie that will help them avert disaster. 

As Jessie and Cate reach out to each other, Jessie begins to grow in knowledge, maturity and power. She acquires a wisdom and courage that sets her apart from her peers and she learns from Cate and Maeve about a type of love that is not bound within a single lifetime or by gender. As Jessie tries to prove to her parents that she's not the same person, she also struggles with the new things she is learning. And always there is the sense of impending doom that hangs over all of them, the race to find information that Jessie has to win if she is to save people who have become friends.

Linda Kay Silva has created a book that has to be appreciated on two levels. There is a well crafted story about Jessie, Cate and the situation involving them. The reader could simply enjoy that and have a good read, but there is a much deeper theory expressed in this book. It poses interesting questions and proposes more interesting answers. What if time is not linear, but cyclical, with past, present and future lives all coexisting on different planes? What if the soul moves from plane to plane inhabiting different bodies, but maintaining certain characteristics?

If we could quiet the noise and distraction of the world around us, could we learn to tap into knowledge we possess in other lives? When a person has unusual artistic, mental or psychic abilities, could it be the memories from other lives surfacing at some level? Is it possible for souls to pass through the "seam" of time and visit other incarnations, perhaps appearing in those lives as "ghosts" or dream characters? If two souls are "mated," do they pass through time, constantly rediscovering each other in various relationships?

These are just some of the questions the reader will find herself pondering as she works her way through the story. The concepts challenge conventional thought and tap into ancient traditions and beliefs. The reader doesn't have to spend time thinking about these issues, but they add a depth to the writing that isn't often found in fiction.

Across Time takes the reader on two interesting journeys, one with Jessie to rescue the Druids and the other in the realm of philosophy. Taking both of them is highly recommended.