Life After Life

Over Christmas, I read that Life After Life by Kate Atkinson was chosen best book of 2013 by Entertainment Weekly.  Since my husband tells me I believe anything I read in a magazine, I knew I had to read this book.  I'm really glad I did, and I think this could work in a high school library for mature readers.  It is long, 527 pages, but a great historical fiction with many viewpoints during World War 2.

How many times in your life have you thought, "If only I had been one minute earlier, or later?" or "If only I could have been there to stop it."  If you had the chance to change the path of your life, how different would it look today? 
Ursula Todd relives her life again and again.  Beginning with her birth, when the umbilical cord is tied around her neck, and darkness falls.  She lives, and dies, many different versions of her own life.  She is always born to her own parents, with her same siblings, in the same house.  However, she is able to change things that are painful, such as the death of her brother.  A major portion of the book takes place during the blitz of London during World War 2.  The author tells a very vivid story of the destruction and violence during this time.  Ursula even spends some time with Hitler and Eva Braun during one of her lives.
A beautifully written novel that I recommend.  I loved the different versions of her life, and the idea that one small change can alter your life in such a huge way.