Margarita Montimore

This unique story begins on New Year’s Eve in 1982, when Oona Lockhart is about to turn nineteen. She is agonizing over whether to stay with her boyfriend Dale’s band, or go with her best friend to London to continue her education. Her angst is about to get worse, however, because at the stroke of midnight she experiences tremors and passes out, only to wake up in 2015. An unfamiliar male, who turns out to be her personal assistant Kenzie, tells her that whereas she may be nineteen on show more the inside, she is now fifty-one on the outside. Every year on New Year’s Eve, she jumps in time - seemingly randomly - to a different age of her life. Kenzie explains, “You’ve never been able to figure out how it happens or why.” Only Kenzie and her mother Madeleine know her secret.

In subsequent chapters we experience different times and ages along with Present Oona, who starts leaving herself notes at the end of each year, hoping she can make a difference in Past Oona’s life. The only way she is successful in changing events, however, is in giving Past Oona stock tips so Future Oona will have financial security. Otherwise, she found that “whichever way the years flowed, it was impossible to outmaneuver their passage.” She needed to learn how to accept the bad stuff she came to know would happen, and enjoy the moment.

Evaluation: Oona is a fascinating character, who has to grow up on the inside much more quickly than other people, and learn how to handle events and relationships she knows will change later. Reading about her progress in dealing with her odd fate held my interest throughout the story. I didn't like Oona much, but there's no denying the author kept my attention. show less

It's 1998, and Ivy Gordon is the most famous star in America — the face of Dahlen Entertainment, a secretive and all-powerful company run by the mysterious Genevieve Spalding, and star of the hit TV show In the Dollhouse. She has everything. She is also terrified. In secret diary entries Ivy begins documenting the truth of her eighteen years at the Dollhouse Academy: strange medical exams, mysterious supplements doled out daily, something unspeakable she can barely bring herself to name. show more She feels like a prisoner, and she is running out of time.
Ramona Halloway and her best friend Grace Ludlow grew up worshipping Ivy. Now twenty-two, they've been posting comedic musical skits online and going nowhere fast — until a lucky break lands them an invitation to the Dollhouse Academy itself, the elite performing arts boarding school and talent incubator every aspiring star dreams of attending. The campus is picturesque, the training intense, and the culture immediately cutthroat. Grace is handpicked early by Genevieve as the next superstar — a spinoff show, a music tour, the whole package. Ramona falls steadily behind, nursing her jealousy while trying to ignore the anonymous threatening messages arriving on her phone, the unsettling medical procedures she's being quietly pressured into, and her growing sense that something at the Dollhouse is very, very wrong. The novel alternates between Ivy's diary entries in the past and Ramona's present-day experience. Published February 2025. From the author of Oona Out of Order.

[May contain spoilers]
The darkest secret at the Dollhouse is "Project Understudy" — a scheme involving cloning or replacing performers to maintain absolute control over their stars and their images long past the point when real people would age out or resist. Ivy discovered this and has been trying to expose it, which is why she's being kept prisoner. The airplane emergency landing in the opening is actually a staged attempt to silence her. Ramona finds Ivy's diary, connects the dots, and realizes that Grace is already being groomed for the same fate. The ending involves Ramona exposing the conspiracy and attempting to free both Ivy and Grace — though some readers felt the sci-fi leap of the cloning element stretched credulity and tipped slightly into absurdity.
What I think: This has real propulsive energy — the dual timeline of Ivy's increasingly desperate diary and Ramona's growing dread is genuinely effective, and the entertainment industry cult dynamic is sharply observed. The cloning twist divided readers fairly sharply — some found it thrillingly unhinged, others found it a Scooby-Doo-level reveal. show less

A quirky novel about Oona who on Jan 1 of each year (her birthdate) beginning at age 18, she leaps to a different year. Sometimes she?s older than herself and sometimes younger. It is quite a ride. Kirkus: What would you say to your younger self if you could give her advice??Wise beyond their years? is an expression we?ve all heard before. But for one Brooklyn teen, that saying becomes all too real when an unexplained event causes her to begin living her adult life in random order. On New show more Year?s Eve 1982, Oona Lockhart is about to turn 19. Change is on the horizon, as she must decide whether to leave school to tour with her band, Early Dawning, or quit the band to continue her studies in London. Does she follow her loving boyfriend and band mate, Dale, or does she make a stable, independent decision for herself? Almost as if standing on a precipice between past and future, Oona finds it important to tell herself: ?Remember this party. Every second of it. Every person here.? When the clock strikes midnight, she opens her eyes to a reality far different from the one she'd been experiencing�and decades later. The abrupt shift sets the pace for the rest of the book¥it turns out that even when you?re living life out of order, time passes just as quickly. Right as you settle in with one version of Oona, whether it be free-spirited, club-going Oona or middle-aged investor Oona, it?s almost New Year?s again. The effect is something like narrative jet lag, making it impossible to feel grounded in time. Which is, no doubt, the point. Montimore (Asleep From Day, 2018) is not afraid to wrench Oona from one season of life to another, satisfied with ending a year in a fashion as incomplete as this: ?She didn?t get a chance to finish her sentence.? These vignettes, removed from linear neatness, celebrate the unpredictability and imperfect nature of life. Even when Oona has the opportunity to leave notes for the next version of herself, it doesn?t always mean she?ll follow her advice. With each temporal shift, Oona is left longing for what came before, but supporting characters like Oona?s mom, Madeleine, and confidante, Kenzie, serve as talismans that guide her back to the present. In the end, we must give credit to Oona for finding joy and even humor in her situation and to Montimore for developing a complex narrative held together by simple truths. Read this to get a bit lost, to root for a character with a strong love for herself, and to connect on a deeply human level with the fear of leading an incomplete life.A heartfelt novel that celebrates its implausibility with a unique joie de vivre. show less

With the world in uncharted waters, finding a book that can take your mind off current events isn’t easy. The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart (also known as Oona Out of Order) is a timely read that is easy to relate to, as the main character is also confused and unsettled. But for Oona, it’s a different problem. Every year she jumps to a random year of her life, different from the age she is inside. It makes for a fun read as Oona tries to mess with her future in the past but fails to show more stop the heartache, learning that with the pain there is still is fun to be had.

Oona is introduced to the reader in the 1980s as she’s grappling with making a big decision. Go on a university exchange to London, or tour with her boyfriend and their band? There are opportunities for both, but Oona doesn’t really like playing the keyboard…but she doesn’t really want to leave her boyfriend either. But she doesn’t have to right now – as the clock turns over to the new year, Oona wakes to find herself in a beautiful house and in her fifties. What happened? Fortunately for Oona she has her mother and assistant Kenzie to guide her. Past Oona also sometimes writes letters to Future Oona, telling her what to expect (but frustratingly avoiding spoilers). But as Oona jumps between multiple years, she sees ways that she could change her story. Could she? Should she? Or should she just accept her life’s path and that fate will find her?

It’s a very original idea for a novel, and keeping everything else perfectly normal makes the narrative easier to accept (especially if you’re not much of a fan of sci-fi). Part of the fun is the anticipation to where Oona will end up next. She’s financially secure, thanks to a good memory for the future stock market, so she has no restrictions. A year travelling? Sure. A year partying very hard? Not a problem. It’s exciting to read all these versions of Oona, living on the edge or living on a dream. But of course, it’s not all money and travel. Oona unfortunately lives through the bitter breakup of her marriage with no memory of the initial attraction. So when she finds herself meeting her future husband it’s a bittersweet experience, knowing the pain that has already been experienced. The novel is a unique way of looking at emotion and feeling, all mixed up without the linearity of time.

I wish that there were more of Oona’s jumps covered in the novel, but I suppose even she has to have a boring year once in a while. The years that are chosen cover big events in her life and create steady narrative threads that make the story easy to follow without normal time as a background. The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart is written with a hint of the surreal, which is very timely. It’s also incredibly absorbing and will take you away from news conferences and social media. I suspect it would be easy to dip in and out of this book, but you won’t want to. The novel has a classic case of just one more chapter (or jump) – give in to Oona and enjoy the ride!

Thank you to Hachette for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

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