Audrey Niffenegger Returns With Life Out of Order, The Guardian Reports

Audrey Niffenegger has published Life Out of Order, a sequel to her 2003 bestselling debut The Time Traveler’s Wife, after spending 14 years writing and shaping the new novel, The Guardian reported.

Writing a Sequel Amid Changing Politics

Niffenegger began writing the follow-up in 2012 following the re-election of Barack Obama. She told The Guardian that the period felt rosy and as good as it gets, but her work required her to imagine the state of the world decades into the future. Over 14 years of exploring dystopian futures, American politics shifted, and her fictional imaginings began to resemble real-world trends. The first thing I remember reading in the news was Watergate, and so I’ve grown up with Reagan, and the Republicans coming on stronger and stronger, so that every Republican president we get is more of a disaster, she noted.

An early scene in the new book features neo-Nazis at a house party. Niffenegger noted that when she wrote the scene, few people believed the United States would see a resurgence of neo-Nazism. WBEZ reported that the author set the opening scene in a Chicago under martial law where young people plot against fascists, noting that the return of fascism caught her by surprise.

Shifting Focus to the Next Generation

While The Time Traveler’s Wife focused on the artist Clare and her husband Henry, whose genetic condition causes him to move involuntarily through time, the sequel centers on their daughter, Alba DeTamble. WBEZ noted that Alba is a violinist born with the same condition. Niffenegger explained to WBEZ that she did not want to write another book centered on the novelty of time travel because readers have grown up and fandoms for properties like Doctor Who are massive.

The Guardian reported that Niffenegger started working on new material in 2012 when her publisher asked for outtakes for an e-book version. After writing a chapter titled “The Yellow House,” she realized she could expand the material into a full novel.

Reflecting on Commercial Success and Public Visibility

The original 2003 novel sold more than 9 million copies globally after initial publication by MacAdam/Cage, a small independent press. The book was subsequently adapted into a 2009 feature film starring Rachel McAdams, which received poor reviews, and an HBO television series in 2022.

Following the financial windfall of her early success, Niffenegger received a $5m advance for her 2009 ghost story Her Fearful Symmetry. Over the subsequent years, as she focused on writing, painting, and running the nonprofit arts school Artists Book House, she observed to The Guardian that the great advantage of earning money is that it buys you time to do creative work.

Daily Life and Relationships in the Sequel

Time traveling is a known condition in Alba’s world, and Niffenegger worked to get the feeling of daily life into that experience. There are many more and different kinds of relationships featured in the narrative, including Alba’s encounters with her own self at different ages.