cover image Now & Then

Now & Then

Jacqueline Sheehan, . . Avon, $13.99 (386pp) ISBN 978-0-06-154778-2

In Sheehan’s spellbinding latest (after Lost & Found ), former lawyer Anna O’Shea becomes a time-traveling ex-wife when she returns from a vacation in Ireland and is enlisted to pick up her brother Patrick’s son from jail in Newark after Patrick is severely injured in a car accident. Anna retrieves troublesome 16-year-old Joe and sets him up at her home, then wakes in the middle of the night to find him rummaging through her luggage. Joe’s intrigued by a mysterious swath of cloth Anna picked up at a tourist trap, and when she tries to take it from him, the two are zapped back 164 years to pre–potato famine Ireland. Sheehan vividly depicts Irish-British conflicts as Anna becomes involved with an Irish smuggler’s group and falls for a rebel cartographer. Equally compelling is Joe’s experience as a wrestling champ and his romance with sparky lass Taleen. Throw in loyal Irish wolfhound Madigan, and you’ve got an altogether enjoyable romantic adventure yarn with a heavy helping of magic. (July)