Summary

Sharon Guskin’s novel, The Forgetting Time, begins when its female protagonist, Janie, decides to take a solo vacation to Trinidad to celebrate her 40th birthday. Janie finds herself particularly unhappy with her 40-year old life. She is single, overworked at a New York architecture firm, and still grieving over the death of her mother, Ruthie. On her last night in Trinidad, Janie shares a plate of spicy goat curry with a handsome stranger at the restaurant and finds herself opening up to him, surprising herself with how easily she lets her guard down. He comments on this, telling Janie her, “vulnerability is showing” (5). When he invites her to visit the Nature Centre with him the next day, Janie cannot help but ignore the wedding ring he is clearly hiding and say yes: yes to him and yes...