As anyone familiar with the classic sci-fi trope of time-travel will tell you, bounding around through the fourth dimension can be something of a mind-bender.
With new novel I Know You, however, matters are complicated further by the fact that its plucky young protagonist Eilidh (pronounced Ay-Lee) ends up falling in love with someone from the past.
We first meet Scottish lass Eilidh when she is about to head off to university, but fate has other plans in store.
A row with a lying boyfriend gets out of control, leading to her being knocked out. When she opens her eyes again, she quickly works out she’s not in Scotland anymore, but has somehow ended up in an African refugee camp … in 1984.
The trip back in time is fleeting, and at first Eilidh tries to rationalise, imagining that she must have been dreaming – a very vivid dream, admittedly, but still fantasy.
But then she finds a small memento from the camp in a pocket that suggests that her journey through time and space was anything but illusory.
Heading out to a local beauty spot, she finds an elderly man in a distressed state. The man, Walter, is in the early stages of dementia and has travelled from Surrey just to be in that spot on that particular day, guided by a tattoo with the location and date inked on his wrist.
His memory loss, however, prevents him from knowing the significance of the tattoo and feeling a strange connection to Walter, as well as being concerned for his welfare, Eilidh takes him back to her house so he can rest before he is collected.
The time trips continue and Eilidh is amazed to find that wherever she ends up, a younger version of Walter is always nearby.
As she gets to know him, and is won over by his charm and good looks if not his archaic (to her) attitudes, she wonders why he seems to be the one anchor in time.
Eilidh can’t risk asking too many questions, or reveal her ability to traverse time, so she tries to fit in with each era, gradually losing her heart in the process.
She is, though, painfully aware that she is, effectively, a visitor in a world where she doesn’t belong and is conflicted by her loyalties to her present-day family, including her frail, senile grandmother, and emerging bond with Walter.
A sporting accident leaves a younger version of Walter, a talented footballer, in a bad way and Eilidh realises just what he means to her.
That, however, presents a major problem. With no way to control her ability, she does not know if she will eventually find herself stuck in the past, or in the present. She has to make the toughest decision of all – sacrifice her family for young Walter, with no guarantees that it will last the course and the inevitability of his mental decline, or leaving her family behind.
I Know You is the sort of novel that grabs your attention because of the unconventional premise and that keeps you hooked with a joyful yet emotive story that simultaneously makes you smile while bringing a tear to the eye.
An entertaining summer read that glides along smoothly while presenting deep, thoughtful questions about destiny and purpose, there’s an intelligence to it that takes it beyond the likes of other time-travel romances such as Richard Curtis’s 2013 flick About Time.
Author Russell Govan’s ability to craft characters that connect so much with the reader is simply astounding, and a great deal of background research has clearly gone into making sure each different time period, from Ethiopia during its civil war to Blitz-stricken Liverpool, is accurately portrayed.
A breathtakingly original romance that will make you laugh, cry, and gasp in surprise, it’s worth getting to know I Know You as soon as you can.
We find out more about masterful storyteller Russell Govan, his latest novel, I Know You, his back catalogue, and his plans for the future.
Q. An early draft of your new novel was nominated for a prestigious literary award. How did that feel, and did it have any bearing on how you developed the story thereafter?
A. It was actually an extract from an early draft that was shortlisted for the 2019 Grindstone International Short Story Prize. It was the first time that I’d submitted anything to any sort of writing competition, so I was thrilled that it did so well, but it didn’t really impact on how I developed the story afterwards.
Q. Your previous two novels – Bank on Nothing and The Best Laid Plans – have been thrillers, while I Know You is a time-travel romance. What attracts you to writing in different genres, and can we expect continued genre-hopping from you in the future?
A. I tend to get bored or easily distracted – symptoms of my mild inattentive-type ADHD – so I think that continued genre-hopping is a reasonable expectation. That said, I’ve just finished the manuscript for a sci-fi novel that very much lends itself to being the first in a series. If an agent or publisher picks that up then I think there are several books in it. Meantime, I’m toying around with the idea for a particularly dark and gruesome crime story.
Q. You only began writing novels in 2015, after taking a creative writing course. What led you to following this path?
A. I’d moved to Oxford, where the university runs high-quality courses available to the public. I enrolled on several of those, including the creative writing one. The teacher, Dr. John Ballam, was gifted, inspiring, and encouraging – and he fired my enthusiasm. Like many people, I’d always wondered whether I had a book in me and the course provided the catalyst for me to find out.
Q. With three novels now under your belt, what would you say the best part of being an author is, or what is the most challenging?
A. The best part, by a country mile, is when the first consignment of your book is delivered to you. To be able to see and hold and it for the first time is a real buzz. The most challenging, for me at least, is disciplining myself to sit down and actually write. I usually have an idea of how my story will start and how it will end, but I’m clueless about where it will go in between times. Sitting in front of the screen without any clear idea of what I want to write next is really challenging.
Q. What critical feedback for your new novel are you most proud of?
A. I fired off a few speculative emails to book bloggers in the hope that some might be willing to provide me with a review. A delightful woman in Canada responded and wrote as good a first review of I Know You as I could have possibly hoped for. My favourite quotes are “the writing is spellbinding” and “you can’t help but fall in love with the characters”. Her site is worth a look, and not just because she liked my book!
I Know You by Russell Govan is published by Guernica World Editions and is out now on Amazon in paperback and eBook formats, priced at £14.91 and £6.99 respectively. For more information, visit www.russellgovan.com or follow the author on Twitter at @RussellGovan.
