Choices

This novel is contemporary women's fiction with a slightly paranormal twist, and is based on the concept that a parallel world is created when one makes a significant, life-changing decision.It explores the lives of the three main characters, Jenny, Emma and Sonya, and then switches to a parallel world.At the beginning of the novel the three women are enjoying a girls' night out. They are all teachers in their mid-thirties, and have been friends for many years.During the evening they discuss an article Sonya has read about decision-making and the creation of parallel worlds. She is open to the idea because she once experienced a brief, "e;other life,"e; event, and has often been haunted by realistic dreams of living other lives.Emma, a cynical realist, scoffs at the idea, but Jenny, a more sensitive soul, has had feelings of deja vu and finds it thought provoking.After they part, the thoughts and emotions evoked by their discussion leads each one to re-examine her past. Through their recollections, their lives unfold from childhood to the present. For each woman an important decision, made when quite young, determined the life she now leads and the woman she has become.The second part of the novel is set in a parallel world, created when the women made other choices. In this world their lives and personalities are different, but despite their changed circumstances a strong, supportive friendship once more develops between them.At the end there is a return to the first world. It is one year later, and for one of them there has been a "e;bleed"e; between the worlds.The novel should appeal to all who have asked themselves, "e;what if?"e; about choices made in the past; and isn't that all of us?