Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life used a narrative device that played fast and loose with typical chronology. In her latest book, which she calls a “companion” to LaL (and not a sequel), she plays a little bit with time sequencing again. Teddy, younger brother to Life After Life ’s protagonist Ursula Todd, is the focus of her latest novel. The narrative sometimes ricochets around like a billiard ball against bumpers, and suggests the random remembrances of an old man, events connected by touchstones that don’t always link chronologically. Since the storyline is intentionally a bit disconnected, it keeps the reader waiting for foreshadowed events until nearly the end. And then the ending is a bit too much like Ian McEwan’s Atonement , which I thought was unnecessary, but all in all I enjoyed the book. Great history. Great characters.