Review: Borrowed Time by Russell Dean

Blurb:

Tom Jacob is bored with his life.

He’s stuck in a job he doesn’t like, his love life is non-existent, and he’s tired of being seen as boring and dependable, so when his wayward twin brother convinces him to spend a night partying instead of doing paperwork, Tom reluctantly agrees.

The following morning he wakes up in a field.
In Wales.
In 1889.

Stranded more than a century in the past, Tom has to overcome language barriers and suspicion as he attempts to adapt to the world around him and find a way back to his own time, but with two people from the sleepy village of Cwm Newydd now missing, one local resident seems hell bent on pinning the blame for their disappearance on the strange Englishman who appeared out of nowhere.

Determined to find his way home, the discovery of a long hidden family secret will change Tom's life forever, and when romance comes knocking he'll be left wondering in which timeline his heart truly lies.

Review:

I dove into this book completely blind. I saw the author post something on Twitter (still not calling it X), it hit a number of things I vibe with - one of which being supporting indie authors, so I took a chance because I have spent more money on things I didn’t necessarily vibe with. This is probably the best £3.99 I have ever spent because I ended up loving this book so much. If I knew then how much I’d love it, I’d have paid well over £3.99 for it.

Tom was bored with his life and from the brief glimpse we see of his ‘modern’ life, I was bored with it. He was the responsible child, doing what’s expected and what his difficult, now dead, father wanted. We don’t actually see much of that life but, following the funeral and the lead up to partying with his brother, we hear about it. And as we know from the blurb, the following morning he wakes up in a field in Wales. I had a uni friend who woke up on his front porch without his house keys and wallet so these things apparently just happen to some people. Probably with less time travel in most cases.

Anyway, I want to briefly focus on the in between from funeral to partying and waking up in a field for a second. After the funeral that opens Ch 1, Russell immediately piques your interest with the little details about Tom’s father’s items. Who was Ellie? Mr Wallace? Why was his father paying to upkeep a farm? (And looking at the early chapters to write this review I just had an epiphany about a small detail that was oh so sneaky. Well played, Russell Dean, well played. John Jacob most definitely was not a philanthropist.) Following this, Tom and his brother then go partying and Tom wakes up in a field in Wales.

As if it’s not enough to suddenly wake up in a field in Wales, Tom immediately gets himself into an altercation from which we meet Mair, who may be my favourite character in all of Wales. And she stayed my favourite throughout. Not just because I loved her line early on about waving a gun at Arthur Morgan, who is insufferable, but also her teasing relationship with Tom and her pure acceptance of her brother, so long as he’s safe and happy, in a time when he is profoundly not accepted. 

We first meet Mair’s brother, and Tom’s romantic interest, in the aftermath of a mining accident. I’m going to take a pause here to mention Russell’s excellent portrayal of the mining accident. The women of town, particularly Nellie, taking charge to see to the casualties, the glimpses of how these accidents impacted whole towns and several other towns over, the helplessness and sorrow when those they tried to help didn’t make it. This was so beautifully done and utterly heartbreaking but was the reality for so many townspeople. Ok, back into the rest of the review. We meet Gwyn following the accident and straightaway you know he’s going to be a fun character. There’s no time like when you’re down with a broken rib to start flirting and teasing a new face in town….apparently. I really adored their relationship. How it progressed just felt so natural and sweet. I want more of this in books and life. 

What I also want more of is English people away from England being relentlessly teased for being English. I loved it in Derry Girls with James and I loved it in Borrowed Time with Tom. The little girl, Sophia, saying ‘Mam says we have to speak English to you, but that’s alright because we have to speak it in school anyway and Mam says it would be rude to speak Welsh if you can’t understand what we’re saying about you.’ had me recommending this book to so many people who can appreciate that sentiment. And that was like page 50. It just carried on throughout the book. “It’s not his fault that he’s English.” I am also furious with Russell about Sophia and I refuse to forgive him on the grounds that how dare he. 

I’m going to take another pause on this one, backtrack briefly, and highlight again how excellently Russell weaved in the historic loss of Welsh language and culture. It was banned in schools, removed as the default language in churches, and with the ownership of mines being Englishmen, the default work language becoming English. If you speak to proud Welsh people, you will undoubtedly hear about this eventually because it took decades to claw back some of the Welsh language into an official capacity. But Russell does not harp on it like I’m doing here, it is just weaved into the conversation with Tom and Gwyn. A new lover sharing a past that impacted more than just their own life. Still not heavy handed at all and just gives you a real historical background to the time. 

Right, back to the review again. Throughout all of this we have the mystery from Tom’s father that we started with, but now we’re getting pieces fitting together while also getting new mysteries like how the heckie did Tom end up in 1898 Wales?! But it’s cool, he’s found love, he’s building a family for himself. We’re slowly getting answers to some of those mysteries and questions. Tom is finding his Welsh farmer feet, it’s all quite sweet - and then Russell pulls the rug out from under us and I hated it! No I mean, I loved the whole book, it was great, but the ending bits. It was an echo of ‘No, no, no, no, no.’, then some disconnected ‘Oh’ and I ended with a ‘Wait a minute’ and gasp.

“Are you saying it was all of the emotions?” 

It was all of the emotions. 

Can I have the next book now?