Finished: Sea of Tranquility (St. John Mandel) Another good Emily St. John book! I had to reread my own recaps of Station 11 and The Glass Hotel to get a refresh on characters in case there were any crossovers, and there were! This was another page turner, but not in a murder mystery kind of way. Rather, there were several characters in different times in history whose stories end up being interconnected, and I quickly got attached to them. They all have one character in common who is time-traveling through history, meeting each of the characters, and trying to figure out if there is some kind of fracture in all their worlds, due to them all having the same experience with an unusual phenomenon. He's basically trying to figure out if they are all living in a simulation instead of in real life. This is the second book I've read in a few weeks that focuses on a deadly future pandemic, which, of course, is very timely. Jumping back and forth in time, we meet Edwin in 1912, who has basically been exiled by his parents in the UK for expressing his "outrageous" views. He's sent with an allowance, so has plenty of time to meander about and stumble across the unusual phenomenon. Next, we meet Olive in 2203, an author who lives on the moon, but is doing a book tour on earth promoting her red hot novel which is a story about, you guessed it...a pandemic. Little does she know that a pandemic far deadlier than covid 19 is just taking root and will be spread to the United States before her book tour is done. She's got a husband and little girl back home on the moon but whether or not she will actually make it back to them comes into question. At last we meet Gaspery-Jacques, a resident of a lunar colony in 2401. His brilliant sister, Zoey, works for the mysterious Time Institute. The Time Institute is where recruits go to learn how to time travel, with the express goal of investigating IF they are in fact living in a simulation, and if so, are there any cracks in the system throughout history. Gaspery begs his sister to let him become a time traveler and help with the cause. The number one rule at the Time Institute is that you can never do anything at all to change the course of history while you are in another time. After five years of training, Gaspery finally time travels where he meets Edwin and Olive, as well as a talented musician and a teenage girl who are also involved in the phenomenon. He knows the history of all these people before he ever meets him, and it becomes impossible for Gaspery to follow the number one rule...especially when he meets Olive. He knows that Olive will die from the horrific virus that is about to hit the U.S. only three days after he interviews her on her book tour. While talking to her, he convinces her to drop her book tour right that minute and head back to the moon. He saves her life, and changes history. Gaspery has also figured out that all these people have, in fact, experienced the exact same phenomenon at the exact same moment, in completely different times of history. This was a very unique book, at the same time, very reminiscent of St. John's other books. I really enjoyed it and hope there is more to come with these characters!