SEVILLE

In Mendelson’s novel, a bored married couple return to the Spanish city where they honeymooned—and meet younger versions of themselves.

William Sutherland, a Scottish marketing consultant in Surrey, and his Spanish wife, Luisa, a paper conservator, celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary in 2025 by returning to the city of Seville, Spain, renewing the bond they cemented when they married three decades ago. Back then, William aspired to be a novelist, not the jaded marketer he is now, and artist Luisa felt more upbeat. Are they the same people they were when they first fell in love? The question would, ordinarily, remain hypothetical, except that this is no ordinary holiday: “William Sutherland feels like an idiot right now. Or perhaps a madman. Because standing directly in front of him…is his wife, Luisa Sutherland. Yet not as she is today. He is staring…into the perfectly entrancing face and chestnut eyes of Luisa Sutherland, circa 1995.” Somehow, the modern-day couple meets their past selves, known as Will and Lu. Before long, other aspects of space and time begin to change—a guidebook that the couple owned in 1995 is brand new when Lu holds it, but “ages and crinkles” when William does. The older man ponders whether this encounter could change the present for the better; specifically, he confronts his long-held suspicion that Luisa once had an affair. Can William alter circumstances so that Luisa never feels the temptation to stray? Nostalgia is the key theme of this deftly written fantasy story, which asks whether true love truly lasts, or whether it’s only by viewing the past through the prism of wistful reminiscence that people can convince themselves that love survives the passage of time. The writing, in the vein of a satirical Anthony Burgess novel, wittily tackles familiar elements of time-travel love stories. But at nearly 400 pages in length, the story strains to squeeze new material out of the time-warp motif; as a result, William, Luisa, Will, and Lu start to feel like houseguests who’ve overstayed their welcome.

An elaborate entertainment that might have benefited from a tighter presentation.