Impossible

"This was a really popular book as well. It came out in 2022, and it was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick in 2023. Again, it’s in that format I like: alternating chapters in different voices. We have a man called Nick and a woman called Bee, and they meet in an unusual way, with a misdirected email that Nick sends, which ends up in Bee’s inbox. A lot of their initial relationship is not in person; it’s via emails, and they think that’s probably the best way. Nick is on the verge of getting divorced from his wife, who was cheating on him. Bee’s been in failed relationships. They strike up this wonderful relationship, and eventually they decide to meet at Euston Station. They both get there, and they meet under the clock. Where else would you meet, but under a clock? They can’t see each other. One of them is waving their hand. The other one says, ‘I’m in a red coat.’ And the other one says, ‘I’m standing here, and I can’t see you.’ Bee says, ‘I’m by the Pret.’ Nick says, ‘By the what?’ The most wonderful twist here is that Bee is in a parallel universe. It is our world, but with slightly different histories and lots of crossovers. Certain things are the same; many things are different. One of them has Brexit; one of them has never heard of Brexit. The world that Nick lives in is very green and different; the world that Bee lives in is pretty much our world as we know it. The impossibility of falling in love with someone who is in a parallel universe—you can never be together—was just so intriguing. Their romance eventually progresses, and they decide that they need to find their other halves in their own worlds. If there’s a Bee and a Nick in each world, then they should be able to find them. They then go to seek out their missing halves and see if that was fate and destiny."