Author’s Note
This tale has had more lives than a quantum cat. It began as a scene in Out of Time, escaped into a radio play (where I may or may not have let Martians tamper with the timeline), and has now re‑emerged as the novel you hold in your hands. James would insist this proves time is a closed loop. Elizabeth would roll her eyes and correct his grammar. I’ll just say it’s a story about how the smallest moments — a missed call, a wandering butterfly — can change everything. The butterfly effect.
James and Elizabeth discover that the butterfly effect is not about changing the future —it’s about ensuring the future unfolds as it already has.
The Butterfly Effect is the 6th book from the Time Travel Diaries of James Urquhart and Elizabeth Bicester by Bruce Macfarlane
When James Urquhart, a modern-day science lecturer, stumbles through a time fracture chasing a particularly smug butterfly, he ends up in 1873—and in serious trouble.
Cue for a cricket match, Victorian picnic drama, and a very unimpressed Elizabeth Bicester, a sharp-witted Cambridge graduate who isn’t buying his 21st-century charm.
But that’s just the beginning! Fast-forward (or is it rewind?) to 2020, where James and Elizabeth, now happily married, but still bickering about each other’s manners, discover a magical device that has recorded everything about their adventures (yes, even that disastrous first chat-up attempt).
Unfortunately, while laughing at their own youthful dating skills, they realise the past they are watching is not quite what they remember.
In fact, they discover their timeline is unravelling, thanks to meddlesome Martians intertwining an alternative version of their life with theirs.
Luckily, where’s there a problem with time, H.G. Wells is always on hand to help out. Though half the time, the benefit of his advice is not always apparent.
All they’ve got to do is fix the past, save the present, and make sure their future stays intact.
Simple really.