Searching for your next unforgettable read? You’ve come to the right place! Today, I’m shining the spotlight on TIME TRAVEL FOR BEGINNERS by Jaclyn Moriarty - a captivating novel that asks an irresistible question: If you could revisit one moment in your life, what would it be? Discover why this is one of the most anticipated books of the summer and why it deserves a spot on your TBR.
LIGHTNING ROUND
What’s your favorite way to spend a slow August afternoon?
I live in Sydney, Australia, where August is winter, and the afternoons are brisk and chilly. Darkness comes early and often catches me outside, far from home, in my prescription sunglasses and without my regular glasses. So I walk home tripping over things and bumping into people…
But in summer? The beach with a book and then a long swim in the ocean. I hope to get a bit chilled on the way home so I can have a bubble bath.
What snack, drink, or sweet treat always finds its way to your desk when writing?
Peppermint tea, raspberries, blueberries, dark chocolate. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays, my desk is a table at the local chocolate shop, Coco Chocolate, so: Cardamom and Cinnamon hot chocolate plus whatever their sample of the day is…
What’s one thing that instantly helps you slip into a creative mindset?
Walking into Coco Chocolate with its table covered in chocolate and chandelier made of glass teacups. Walking over the Harbour Bridge and looking at the water below; or staring at the sea.
THE LATE-SUMMER SPARK
August can feel like a season of transition, with summer winding down and new routines on the horizon. In what ways did this story represent a new direction or challenge for you as a writer?
Again, it’s winter in Sydney and this question makes me realize something: the last month of winter does not have the same sense of transition as the last month of summer. I wonder why? For me, August feels squarely, implacably wintry. Not a hint of transition or spring.
It’s a great question though. TIME TRAVEL FOR BEGINNERS represented a new challenge because it seemed like I would never write it. Most of my books have been for young people, but I’m always writing for grownups around the edges—usually grownup books set in the real world with a touch of magic—so that part was not new.
The new thing was that I couldn’t stop researching. Usually, I’m pretty ruthless about that, but I somehow convinced myself that I couldn’t start writing this book until I’d researched all of history, and all of quantum physics. It took a huge effort of will to admit that if I didn’t start writing, I’d never start writing, and that there was no chance I’d ever understand quantum physics.
What was the very first image, line, or idea that sparked this book?
I was riding a bus along a Sydney street, looked out the window, and saw a Time Travel Agency. For a split second, I was intensely excited. I genuinely believed that the secret to time travel had been discovered and that there was now an agency on Military Road that could book you on trips to the Jurassic era, set up itineraries through the Ming Dynasty, and advise on luxury inns in Elizabethan England.
Then I looked again. A billboard for Time magazine had slipped sideways against a local travel agency. There was no Time Travel Agency.
To cheer myself up, I decided to write a book about one.
Many authors say their characters “talk back.” Did any character surprise you or take the story somewhere unexpected?
Teddy is a customer at the Time Travel Agency whose wife has just left him for his brother. He wants to travel to different points in his marriage to see where he went wrong so he can try to win her back.
Teddy is such a good-natured guy that he kept his anger toward his ex and brother hidden from me for quite a while. Also, one of the employees at the agency surprised me by insisting that Teddy needed to explore his relationship with his brother, not his wife. I honestly hadn’t planned that at first.
Late summer often brings a sense of reflection and nostalgia. Did any personal experiences, memories, or favorite places inspire parts of the story?
I know that I need to stop pointing out that it’s not summer in Sydney right now, but these questions are making me nostalgic for summer. Also, the question still works for me, as I am capable of nostalgia in any season. One of the customers at the agency is an elderly woman who goes back to spend half an hour with her childhood pet dog. The dog recognizes her instantly. This was inspired by my own yearning to spend another afternoon with my border collie, Lochie, from my teenage years.
I moved overseas in my twenties, and I still smile thinking of the wild welcome Lochie gave me each time I returned home for a visit. I’d like one more of those wild welcomes.
THE PERSONAL TOUCH
What’s a behind-the-scenes detail about writing this book that readers might never guess?
Well, they might not guess that I have stacks and stacks of folders of research and notes on time travel destinations that never made it into the book, and that are toppling over and spilling everywhere in my study…
August is a wonderful time to squeeze in a few more summer reads. Which books are currently at the top of your TBR pile?
I am happy to take winter reading just as seriously as summer reading, possibly more seriously because what else are you going to do when it’s cold and rainy outside, and you have a blanket, couch, heater, and hot chocolate inside?
I’m halfway through CUL-DE-SAC by Eleanor Limprecht, which is riveting and powerful. I have THE CORRESPONDENTS by Virginia Evans waiting on my bedside table. (My first books, starting with FEELING SORRY FOR CELIA, were epistolary novels, and most of my books have at least one letter in them. A reader recently told me that she loved THE CORRESPONDENTS and has been telling people that it’s FEELING SORRY FOR CELIA for grownups. So I’m particularly interested in reading this one.)
The fact that there are new books out by Elizabeth Strout, Ann Patchett, and Kate Atkinson - three of my absolute favorites - is making me giddy.
The best, funniest, and most unputdownable book of the year is BIG LITTLE TRUTHS by my brilliant sister, Liane Moriarty.
If readers could step inside one scene from your book and experience it in real life, which scene would you choose and why?
Well, the Time Travel Agency offers "highlight" tours through time, and Anna, the main character, creates a "magical moments" tour. It includes meteor showers, ice sculptures, the Northern Lights, breaching whales, parades, standing ovations, crowd chants at international football matches, the Haka, the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, skies full of shooting stars, and more.
I’d like readers to be able to take that tour (and I wouldn’t mind taking it myself).
LOOKING AHEAD
Can you give readers a sneak peek into your next project, minus any spoilers?
Sure. I’m working on another grownup novel with an edge of magic. This one is set in an apartment complex and told through the perspectives of four different residents who are discovering a remarkable secret about that place.
I also have a new book for children (ages 8–12) coming out in November, THE ACCIDENTAL WORLD-SLIP OF ASTRID VERITY. It’s the next in the Kingdoms and Empires series, a collection of standalone books about various people in the world of the Kingdoms and Empires.
In this one, Astrid is a ten-year-old girl who always knows when people are lying and can sense exactly how they’re feeling. (As a result, she’s a poker champion in the Kingdoms and Empires.) Now she has found herself accidentally trapped in our world.
Where can readers connect with you and keep up with your latest writing news? Please share your website, social media handles, newsletter, or other favorite places to connect.
My website, and I have just had it updated - but I can’t promise that I’ll keep doing that…
Instagram is where I’m probably most active.
BONUS: The Author’s Playlist
Share 3–5 songs that capture the mood of your book or helped inspire you while writing.
I don’t know if these songs capture the mood of the book, but I was listening to them a lot while I was writing it, and they let me disappear into a deeper layer of the story.
• "Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)" — James
• "One Day Like This" — Elbow
• "New Order T-Shirt" — The National
• "The Adults Are Talking" — The Strokes
Three strangers’ lives are forever changed when they’re all drawn to a mysterious agency claiming to have unlocked the secret to time travel in this dazzling novel from award-winning author Jaclyn Moriarty.
On a bustling road in Sydney, Australia, lies a nondescript storefront known simply as the Time Travel Agency. Inside, you’ll be welcomed by the smell of fresh-brewed coffee, a selection of baked goods…and the question, Where in time do you wish to go?
The guidelines are simple: you can go whenever you wish into the past, and there’s no fear of altering the present. Have tea with Jane Austen, scream at a Beatles concert, witness the Olympics in ancient Greece. Perhaps a more personal trip? Visit your long-lost grandmother, recapture the heady days of your youth, return to the idyllic time when your teen was a babbling baby—or watch yourself make the one decision that changed everything.
Is it a hoax? And if it’s real, what’s the catch?
When single mother Anna is offered a job at the agency, she glimpses the possibility of happiness. Meanwhile, Teddy’s a customer hoping to untangle his recently imploded marriage. And Jade, who has a deeply buried secret, despises the agency for offering false hope.
In Jaclyn Moriarty’s incandescent novel, Anna, Teddy, and Jade leap headlong into time, hurtling on a crash course toward one another. At turns entertaining and illuminating, Time Travel for Beginners explores the moments, big and small, that shape our destiny.
Women's Fiction | Mystery | Science Fiction Suspense/Thriller [ Berkley, On Sale: August 4, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9780593820339 / eISBN: 9780593820346 ]
Jaclyn Moriarty is an Australian writer of young adult literature. She studied English at the University of Sydney, and law at Yale University and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where she was awarded a PhD. She is the younger sister of Liane Moriarty. She was previously married to Canadian writer Colin McAdam, and has a son, Charlie. She currently lives in Sydney.
Jennifer Vido is the author of The Gull Island Series, sweet Lowcountry romances inspired by her love of coastal living and small-town charm. Serendipity by the Sea won Best First Book from the New Jersey Romance Writers Golden Leaf Contest, and Baltimore Magazine readers named her Best Local Author in 2024 and 2025.
A Vanderbilt graduate, Jennifer traded in teaching French to follow her dream of becoming an author. She loves discovering and sharing literary gems through her Jen's Jewels column, celebrating the books that make her heart happy.
Jennifer lives in Maryland with her husband and is mom to two grown sons. Her rescue dog, Fripp, is her constant companion, though he's better at napping than editing. When she's not writing, you'll find her at the beach with her toes in the sand, dreaming about her next romance.
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