Synopsis of Pathway Back by Hazel Goss It is 1875 during a storm at sea and Jane grabs a sand timer to save herself from falling as the mast breaks and the ship lurches to one side. The time moves to 2015 with Jason, a keen dinghy sailor and collector of nautical artefacts, attending an auction and buying a ship’s sand timer. Just before Christmas Jason’s wife, Catherine, is killed crossing the road. He struggles to cope with bereavement but eventually starts sailing again, with his friend, Phil and shows him the timer. That night Jason dreams he is in a dark alley and is frightened when a man runs past him splashing him with something. On waking he discovers he has splashes of blood on his face and nightclothes. Jason asks Phil, a forensic scientist, if he can find the DNA of the blood. Phil is reluctant but eventually agrees. A filial match is discovered to a man currently in prison. Jason meets him and is told that his great grandfather was hanged for the murder of a woman. The story moves to 1929 and the reader meets the man in the alley, David, and the beautiful woman, Annabelle, he hopes to marry. Annabelle dies in an attack on both of them late one evening. Jason discovers, with the help of close friend, Sonia, that he is time travelling and he is to prevent Annabelle’s murder. The story continues to move back and forth. David is accused of murder, stands trial and is hanged. Jason reverses this, saves Annabelle finds she is related to his wife. The family tree also shows there is a connection with the woman, Jane, on board the ship. The timer is concentrating on the women in Catherine’s family. Sonia has met Roger aboard a cruise ship and they become engaged. Jason then understands that he may be able to save his wife and that would send him and everyone that knows them back to December. Sonia is distressed because her relationship with Roger will have to start again but agrees, that Jason should try. Jason saves Catherine and later looks at her family tree and finds all his other changes still stand. Sonia wakes up aboard the cruise ship and meets Roger, anxious not to reveal how much she already knows about him. Catherine is pregnant and they look forward to the future, the timer now safely housed in a cabinet at the sailing club. Eighteen years later their daughter, Isabelle, has her birthday party at the sailing club. Her parents go on a cruise and she decides to clean all the trophies and nautical artefacts on display. She goes back in time to India, 1875, when the mutiny is at its height and meets Jane. Isabelle tells Sonia who then reveals the secret of the timer and her father’s adventures. Sonia rings Jason on holiday and he is now forced to tell Catherine that she had once died. Catherine is angry he has kept the secret from her and frightened for Isabelle. They agree to leave their cruise and go home. Isabelle returns to India to complete the timer’s mission. She stays in the past for several days and Catherine, distraught, touches the timer and disappears. In India Isabelle and Catherine help the wounded near Lucknow. Jane has a baby and her husband, Cecil, is brought in with a sabre cut. Jason, now alone, touches the timer and joins his family. They bandage him to look like a recovering soldier and he goes to the hospital tent to find Cecil. An Indian soldier, giving breakfast to the wounded is killing each man with a stiletto. Jason tackles the Indian to the floor, saving Cecil’s life. All the family arrive home, tell Sonia what happened and discover the timer has disappeared.