First 15 lives of Harry August by Claire North is a mystery. Why does he keep being reborn? Who is the little girl that appears at his bedside near the end of his 11th life? How does everything change after that?
Plot
Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. ‘I nearly missed you, Doctor August,’ she says. ‘I need to send a message.’ This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.
Claire North is a pseudonym for author Catherine Webb. This is her first major work as Claire North, and received critical acclaim, becoming a word-of-mouth bestseller. The book featured on BBC Radio 2 Book Club in 2014.
The book has been described as a cross between ‘Groundhog Day’ and ‘The Tale of the Ancient Mariner’.
Harry August is born on new year’s day 1919 and dies, after an average span of years, from a form of cancer. Then he’s born again, on new year’s day 1919 and he lives another life. And again. And again. Each life is slightly different from the last but Harry remembers everything from every life so he might be six years old and also 300 years old at the same time.
Is he unique? Well, there are others who are born repeatedly, just like Harry, but very few of them have the ability to remember other lives.
Then news arrives that the end of the world due at some point in the future. Not only that, but that date is getting earlier with every passing generation or ‘re-birth’. It appears someone is tinkering with time!
Who could be planning this and why? And will Harry be able to stop them?
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is available from: