Chasing Through Time

by Tara Hodgson, Jacquelyn Austin (Editor)

Overview

In the tumultuous world of high school, Emma grapples with a devastating breakup, a damning social media scandal that threatens her reputation, and an overwhelming sense of isolation. Her parents are distant, she has no true friends, and her despair deepens with each passing day.

One fateful night during a sudden snowstorm, Emma forges a connection with Sarah, a girl who navigates the treacherous high school terrain of 2001. In this improbable friendship, they bond through the digital ether, supporting each other's struggles at the same school, in the same town, while separated by two decades.

The friendship becomes a lifeline for both girls. Their lives bear striking similarities, yet the differences are equally profound. While Sarah is spared from the perils of social media, she gains self-assurance and begins to discover herself. In contrast, Emma's struggles intensify as she faces dire consequences for her actions online and misguided romantic entanglements.

Sarah watches helplessly as Emma's life unravels, yearning to help but bound by the constraints of time. Emma's perilous descent accelerates, and the danger of not receiving the help she desperately needs looms large. Sarah, trapped twenty years in the past, must find a way to intervene before it's too late.

This gripping tale of bridging the gap between eras explores the enduring power of human connection, the complexities of teenage life, and the lengths to which a stranger will go to save a life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781038302175
Publisher:	FriesenPress
Publication date:	04/18/2024
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Tara Hodgson has been teaching for the past sixteen years. She spends her days surrounded by teens and has witnessed the changes that technology, especially social media, has had on the teenage experience. She lives on an acreage in Sturgeon County, Alberta with her husband, two children, and a crew of cats and dogs.

Editorial Reviews

2024-06-17
In Hodgson’s YA novel, two teens separated by more than two decades find each other via a mysterious computer link.

Fifteen-year-old Sarah Saulson lives in Meference County in January 2001; Emma Stephenson, who’s also a sophomore at local Cardothia High School, lives in January 2022. Despite living in two different eras, the two girls become fast friends, bonding through online chats after a strange electrical storm forges a link across time between their two computers. Emboldened by the anonymity of the chat, both girls quickly share the struggles they’re facing in school, although Sarah is more forthcoming than Emma, at first. Sarah’s best friend has cut her off with no explanation; Emma briefly dated a popular classmate at school, and a risqué photo that she sent him appeared on his public social media page. He’s now dating her former friend, and ever since, Emma has endured a flood of cyberbullying from her classmates. Although the details of their difficulties differ, both girls have feelings of isolation and despair in common and advise each other accordingly. Hodgson portrays the emotional depths of both Sarah and Emma in a way that feels authentic, and it will ring true for teen readers facing similar situations. However, the two main characters accept the reality of the time bridge a bit too readily, asking each other only a few questions—mostly about 2022 internet lingo—before they’re satisfied. Also, despite their emotional closeness, they can’t intervene in each other’s lives; Sarah grows more confident with support from her parents, but Emma’s family is more distant, and she feels trapped in a downward spiral. This crisis comes to a head toward the end of the novel and leads to a reveal that perceptive readers will have seen coming from the second chapter. Still, the plot turn ties the threads of the narrative together in a satisfying way.

A resonant exploration of the emotional lives of high schoolers with a time-bending twist.

Kirkus Reviews