Time traveling can simply be a plot device to achieve the story you want to tell, or it could be the idea that the author is trying to explore. Time traveling can involve science or magic. The characters can sometimes control where and when they go, and others cannot.
Time traveling allows the author to take characters out of their comfort zone and explore psychological, social, and even metaphysical issues about our past, present, and future.
This list is in no particular order and some favorites ended up under other headings. So, let’s get whisked away to another time.
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Best Time Travel Books of All Time
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, 2003
This moving romance explores the idea of experiencing our lives out of order and the ideas of fate. Thirty-six-year-old Henry meets Claire when she is six, and then marries her at thirty when she is twenty-two.
Never knowing what to expect is an experience that time travel brings to any genre.
11/22/63 by Stephen King, 2011
The master of horror explores “What if…” in this novel about Jake, a history teacher, who travels back in time with the mission of stopping the JFK assassination.
Through him, the reader can experience the world of the sixties, both good and bad. They can question Jake’s choices and whether he can truly make a difference or not as he meets people and falls in love.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, 1843
While Scrooge doesn’t physically travel to different times, he does visit his past, present, and future thanks to the ghosts, which may not classify the book as a traditional time travel story.
However, Scrooge sees things in the timeline that he couldn’t normally experience, so I’m counting it.
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, 1979
Dana, a Black woman celebrating her 26th birthday with her husband in 1970s California, is pulled into the Antebellum south to save the plantation owner’s son. Each time she is drawn back to the slave quarters in the past, her stay becomes longer and more dangerous.
All Souls series by Deborah Harkness, 2011-2018
Diana, a witch, and Matthew, a vampire, travel back in time to Elizabethan London to discover the magical manuscript that is hiding from them while they hide from those that are trying to kill them. Can they discover what is happening to the magical races?
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, 2018
Groundhog Day meets Agatha Christie in this time loop murder mystery. Eight days, eight witnesses, and Evelyn Hardcastle dies at 11p.m. each time…until Aiden Bishop can name her killer. Each morning, he wakes in the body of one witness and some of his hosts are more helpful than others.
Replay by Ken Grimwood, 1986
Jeff Winston, 43, died while waiting for happiness. His marriage was lukewarm and his job a dead-end, but he was given a chance to start all over again. He woke up back in college, a fresh-faced eighteen-year-old, and with all the knowledge of his mistakes. At 43, he died again and woke up at 18 again. And again…
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 1969
With warnings for vulgarity and violence, this book focuses on political disillusionment of governments’ war, PTSD, and the dark humor soldiers use to cope with the terrible things they have experienced.
Partially biographical, Billy Pilgrim is drafted into the Vietnam war and experiences the WWII firebombing of Dresden. However, due to an alien abduction, he becomes “unstuck in time.”
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North, 2014
On his deathbed for the eleventh time, Doctor Harry August is confronted by a young girl who needs to send a message back to the past. When he becomes a child again, with all his previous memories, he must decide how, this time, he is going to try to change the past to avoid a future he can’t allow.
All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai, 2017
Tom Barren lives in a 2016 techno-utopian paradise, but he can’t seem to find his place in this amazing world. Due to a mishap, he ends up in our version of 2016.
As he tries to find his way home, he discovers wonderfully unexpected alternate versions of his family, career, and possibly his soul-mate. Tom travels countries, continents, and timelines to uncover whether he should fix the timeline or stay where he is.
Time Travel Novels Set in the Future
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, 1895
No list about time travel books would be complete without this story about fate and what people truly have control over.
The time traveler (he is never named) uses a device to choose how far and which direction to go. When he returns to regale his friends with tales of adventure from the very far future, comparisons are made to current society and the direction it could take.
Hyperion by Dan Simmons, 1989
On a distant planet called Hyperion, a creature called the Shrike waits in the Valley of the Time Tombs. It is worshiped, feared, and some have vowed to destroy it. On the eve of Armageddon, seven pilgrims travel to find the Shrike and they may save or destroy all of humanity.
Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern by Anne McCaffrey, 1983
This book breaks all the rules. Technically Pern is a futuristic story because it takes place on a planet people traveled to far in the future, but it feels like it takes place in the past because they have medieval technology, excepting their dragons.
And while technically (there’s that word again) throughout all of the series the dragons can travel between space and time. They use this skill to protect the people and avoid being eaten or wounded by the terrible thread that falls from the skies.
But when a sickness falls upon the dragons during threadfall, Moreta must push herself to discover how far between can take her.
The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov, 1955
A bit like Dr. Who, the Eternals are a bunch of men who live outside of the time continuum and enter it only to monitor or to meddle.
Andrew Harlan, an Eternal, meets Noyes Lambert and falls in love. Then the powers of time are at his disposal to make sure they stay together forever. Will time break or bend for the lovers?
The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter, 1995
The official sequel to The Time Machine by H.G. Wells was written a hundred years later with more knowledge about space, time, and technology.
The protagonist goes back again to save Weena, the young female Eloi who dies during his first visit, but because of the changes he made to his Edwardian timeline things aren’t the same in the future.
Baxter uses Wells’ style along with names and ideas from several of Wells’ short stories to create this more modern telling.
The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart, 2022
In 2072, January Cole runs the security at a luxury hotel that caters to the ultra-wealthy. It’s where they wait for their trip through time.
She used to work as a time detective, but too much time traveling is bad for a person. Which is why she can see things that others can’t, and she’s the only one who can solve the mysterious accidents that are happening to the guests of The Paradox Hotel.
Books About Time Travel Set in Ancient History
The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier, 1969
Dick Young, a middle-aged man waiting for his family to join him at a vacation house where they are going to celebrate his new job, becomes the test subject for a new drug developed by his professor friend. The drug takes him back to the 14th century Cornwall manor he is staying in.
Dick comes to resent when the drug wears off and he must return to his present time. He slowly becomes addicted to an experience that seems more alive than his real life.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain, 1899
Hank Morgan, a skilled mechanic in a factory, gets hit on the head during a fight and wakes up in King Arthur’s court. Hank wants to bring the medieval world up to the modern 19th century technology with his know-how. And it doesn’t take long before he creates a huge mess. It is Twain at his satirical best.
The Roman Time Travel series by Morgan O’Neill, 2012
Another time traveling romance. This time flutist Gigi Perrin travels back to 5th century Rome due to an ancient curse. She must learn how to live in a world completely different from her own and grapple with an attraction to a pagan senator and military commander, Quintus Magnus. And of course there is a war too.
Island in the Sea of Time series by S.M. Stirling, 1998
A spring storm rolls into Nantucket, and when it clears, the inhabitants realize that the entire island has been transported to the bronze age. They must learn how to survive and adapt.
And then there is the age-old question of power and how to create a new society to fit the new situation. There will always be power struggles.
Reflections in the Nile by Suzanne Frank, 1998
Chloe Kingsley travels from her home in Dallas to visit the famed Egyptian pyramids on vacation. As she is soaking in the awe and wonder of the magnificent structures, she is pulled into the body of a princess under Hatshepsut.
Chloe and the reader learn about ancient Egypt and how the Egyptians dealt with the plagues during the Exodus. Chloe also spends some time falling in love with Cheftu.
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, 1992
Kivrin prepares for a dangerous trip back to the fourteenth century with inoculations and creating a reason for being a woman traveling alone.
In the 21st century, her instructors are double checking their precise calculations and monitoring Kivrin’s extraction point. Unfortunately, things are complicated by a pandemic in modern times, and Kivrin is seen as an angel of hope to those in the past.
Books on Time Travel That Involve Wars
The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, 1991
While primarily a romance, the Outlander deals with a combat nurse who has just returned from war in her own time to be tossed back into a war-torn Scotland in 1743. She must learn the subtleties between modern warfare and a war much more psychological and visceral.
What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon, 2019
Love and war seem to go together in time travel romances. Anne Gallagher travels back to the war of Irish independence in 1921.
After she is wounded, she ends up under the care of a handsome doctor involved in the struggle. Here, the question is even if she decides to stay, will it affect the war and the future?
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, 2019
There is no past, present, or future as these two opposing agents start leaving letters to taunt one another that slowly transform into love letters across time and space. If another agent finds one, it would mean death for them both. And yet…
The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley, 2021
In an alternate historical timeline, Joe Tournier has amnesia in the 19th century French colony of England. But he suffers not only from amnesia, but also déjà vu and jamais vu. Things that should be familiar aren’t, and things that shouldn’t be familiar seem to be, like the century old postcard of a Scottish lighthouse.
On his quest to discover who he is, he passes through a time portal that sends him back to the Napoleonic wars, where he is determined to change history.
Timeline by Michael Crichton, 1999
Archeologists are sent back to the 1600s on a rescue mission. As they live history for themselves, the experts become embroiled in conflicts between bloodthirsty knights during the One Hundred Years War.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, 1974
Another war, this one is set in the future and focuses more on the technology and the difficulties that technology causes. Like most sci-fi, it has deep themes, as Private Mandella ages months during his service, while his home planet of Earth ages centuries.
Time Travel Fiction For Kids
The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborne for ages 6-9, 1992-2003
My children were introduced to time traveling and the exploration of different historical settings through this fun series that follows an alliteration convention for the titles. In each book, the children are sent back in time to achieve a specific mission.
The Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling for middle grade, 2004
Harry and the gang discover the uses and dangers of time-turners. In the third installment of the series, the time traveling comes from an object that helps the characters in their attempt to save two lives.
The Time Quintet by Madeleine L’Engle for middle grade, 1962
I can remember reading about the Murry family in middle school. The children seemed so relatable, but their parents were extraordinary, creating fantastic situations for the children to deal with, all on their own.
Throughout these books, the characters not only travel through time, but also space. And it is only through their adventures, they discover what a tesseract is and how to use it to save the universe from evil.
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce, Susan Einzig (Illustrations) for middle grade, 1958
Tom is sent to stay with family in the city when his brother contracts the measles. Because he might be infectious, Tom can’t go out to play. It seems like the summer will be very boring until the grandfather clock strikes thirteen o’clock one sleepless night.
When Tom creeps downstairs and opens the door, he discovers a magical Victorian garden complete with a playmate. The converted flats were once a rambling country house and Tom explores them with Hatty, who ages from child to adult over the course of the summer.
Miss Peregrin’s Peculiar Children series by Ransom Riggs for YA, 2011
I love this weird and strange series where Ymbrynes found homes for the peculiar children, finding a specific day in history that is just perfect. The children go on many adventures and death is waiting under many guises.
Action, adventure, horror, romance, scifi, and fantasy, all wrapped up in a time traveling package. The best part about this series is the Victorian photographs used as inspiration for the characters that are found throughout the books.
The Secret of the Sphinx: A Time-Travel Adventure to Ancient Egypt by Samuel Bavli for middle grade, 2011
Centuries ago, an evil sorcerer captured the king’s magician, Neb, and trapped his soul in a sphinx. When a fourteen-year-old boy, Jon, goes on a school trip to the museum, the sphinx tells Jon an ancient story and uses his magic to send Jon back to ancient Egypt. Jon must overcome Neb’s enemies to save the magician’s soul.
Conclusion
If you want to write your own time travel novel, Fictionary StoryTeller and StoryCoach software can help you keep track of your timelines, add depth to your setting, know when knowledge is gained, and more.
With a strong Story Arc foundation, the Fictionary 38 Elements will take your time travel adventure from every day to out of the space-time continuum!