Book Review: Once and Again

I first encountered Rebecca Serle in 2022 with her book, In Five Years. Then, last year, I read One Italian Summer. Both of these books contain cautionary content I would normally avoid, but her writing is so good and stories so intriguing I'm willing to skim that content for the sake of learning from her writing skills. Serle creates wonderful alternative realities. She uses magical realism and plausible conflicts to hone in on truly interesting what-if scenarios.

In this book, Once and Again, the women in Lauren's family have a special coin that allows them one do-over. Before I even knew of this novel, I had actually started writing a short story with this idea but my skills will never match Serle's. She ferrets out the myriad of conflicts this ability would summon: What is significant to warrant the coin's use? Once used, how does one live with the normal inability to intervene in life's trials? Who can be trusted with the secret? Are other lives influenced by the do-over?

My mind thought of the despair if your alteration didn't accomplish what you had hoped. Lauren only learned about the coin at age fifteen, when her mother turned back time to avoid her father's death. Like One Italian Summer, this book considers mother-daughter relationships and the frictions that can develop. The reader cannot help but think about what they would like to do-over if they had such a coin. This was a quick and entertaining read.