Contemporary fiction · 2012
Rewind
Everyone has wished sometime or another they could go back in time and have the chance to do something over again. Jason West has wished this many times. On his fortieth birthday, feeling his life is meaningless and empty, he attempts suicide, but instead of dying he wakes up in 1971, still a forty-year-old, but now inside the body of his eight-year-old self. Has he gone mad or is it real? Either way he now has the chance to relive his life and make changes using all the advantages, knowledge and experience he now has – well, how can he lose? Too easily.
Things don’t go at all the way Jason plans. He falls in impossible love, is pursued by his vindictive family and is hunted down by the media. Instead of being able to relive his life, which should now be full of opportunities he can turn to his advantage, it dawns on Jason that he has the daunting responsibility to try to save the innocents and warn the world. But with his awareness of what the next thirty years hold, who will take any notice of an eight-year-old boy?
The story behind the book
Four years later I was writing again but this was a different story. Fed up with life and I wanted to turn back the clock and start again but I did not have access to a DeLorean so I decided to write about what might happen instead. Another four years writing but again no luck in attracting an agent. My bottom draw was so full of manuscripts now there was no room for my last Rolos collection.
What readers have said
“As a big fan of time-travel stories, you can imagine I’ve read many a book with a similar premise to Rewind by David A. Wardle, where a forty-year-old man gets sent back in time to inhabit the body of his eight-year-old self. So while I was hoping for an enjoyable read, I certainly didn’t expect a surprising one.
Wardle has managed to create a work of fiction that not only has wit and charm, but also manages to be unpredictable. Every time I thought that I could assume the direction of the next few chapters, Wardle twisted my expectations, nudging me into that ‘one more chapter’ state of mind.
His characters are full of personality, none more so than the protagonist Jason – whose fun quips and jocularity belie his well-written struggle underneath.
I would highly recommend this book, especially if you grew up in the UK in the seventies, as the nostalgia certainly also adds an entertaining novelty factor to the proceedings.”
“I stopped reading books when my children were born nearly 25 years ago. I’ve picked up the odd book over the years but have rarely got past the first chapter. I was then recommended this book by my wife, and very soon got hooked. I didn’t want to put it down because I just had to know how it finished. Highly recommended.”
“A simple, but all the more entertaining for it, plot. The wit is dry and the humour plentiful. The ending is perhaps a little abrupt, but sets the scene very well for a follow up. I can easily imagine the calamity of an 8 year old hunting down Diana. Highly recommend for a light hearted read.”
“A very good read, intelligently put together, gripping from each twist and turn to the next, full of carefully crafted memories from the past (music, TV and films) and most importantly all done in a humorous manner, almost in the best possible taste, but then that was a decade later.”
“A good idea, well executed. Many of the characters really come alive and no matter what it is you feel for them, the story and the writing make you feel something!”
“Great book, kept me guessing.”
