Audrey Niffenegger wrote Life Out of Order

Audrey Niffenegger has spent years writing Life Out of Order, the sequel to her 2003 bestselling debut novel The Time Traveler’s Wife, as reported by The Guardian. The new book arrives from HarperCollins on October 6, shifting focus from the original protagonists to their violinist daughter, Alba DeTamble.

Writing Life Out of Order Through Political Shifts

Niffenegger began drafting the sequel in 2012 following the re-election of Barack Obama, a period she described as a rosy time in American politics. Over the subsequent 14 years of exploring various dystopian futures, real-world political developments began to mirror her fictional imaginings. WBEZ reported that an early scene in the book set in a Chicago under martial law involves a group of young people, including Alba, plotting against fascists. Niffenegger noted that she wrote the scene in 2013 when neo-Nazism was not widely viewed as a major domestic threat.

The author explained her political outlook has since radicalized, pushing her to attend public demonstrations. She told The Guardian that the current political climate makes urgent action necessary, emphasizing voting and civic engagement. In her narrative, she incorporated extreme weather, failing infrastructure, and submerged cities to make climate threats less abstract for readers.

Expanding The Time Traveler’s Wife Universe

The original novel, published in 2003 by the independent press MacAdam/Cage, sold more than nine million copies globally. It followed Clare and Henry, a man with a genetic condition causing involuntary time travel. WBEZ noted that the sequel moves beyond that initial romance into the lives of a second generation of time travelers who possess more control over their condition.

Niffenegger told WBEZ that she did not want to repeat the novelty of time travel from the first book because contemporary readers are already familiar with complex timelines through popular franchises like Doctor Who. The new novel also incorporates artificial intelligence as a mechanism for preserving human experience rather than usurping it.

Adapting Prior Works for Screen

While preparing her new book release, Niffenegger’s other literary projects continue to move forward in film. Her graduate project, the illustrated novel Three Incestuous Sisters, is currently being adapted into a silent film. The project features a screenplay worked on by Ottessa Moshfegh and Alice Rohrwacher, with Dakota Johnson, Saoirse Ronan, and Jessie Buckley cast as the sisters.

Life Out of Order publishes on October 6 through HarperCollins.