I loved Eleanor and Park (at least until I threw the book across the room at the end). I laughed and cried and cheered my way through Fangirl. So when I saw a copy of Landline sitting on the shelf at my local public library, I knew I had to read it now. I did not want to miss out on the latest by Rainbow Rowell.

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I found it slow to get into at the beginning, but I’m glad I stuck with it. Georige McCool is a comedy writer. Just before Christmas, she and her longtime writing partner, Seth, get the break of a lifetime–the opportunity to write their own show–if they can create a pilot and four episodes by the end of the year. Georige leaps at the chance and breaks the news to her husband and daughters that she won’t be able to go to Nebraska for the holidays even though they’ve already bought the tickets. To her surprise (and dismay), Neil packs up the girls and goes home without her. It’s the first Christmas Georgie has spend apart from Neil since he broke up with her in college.

Georgie is devastated at being left alone. When she crashes at her mother’s house, she plugs in her old telephone and tries to call Neil. The Neil who answers is the boy who broke up with her fifteen years before. As Georgie tries to wrap her brain around the fact she has a direct line to the past, she keeps talking with long ago Neil. The more she worries about her future with Neil, the more she wonders if she should try to change the past. What would happen if she talks past Neil out of driving back to California to propose to her that Christmas fifteen years ago?

Rowell weaves the different threads of the story together until I can see how Georgie shares the same struggles I do. Flashbacks reveal how Georgie met Neil and how their relationship began. Conversations with past Neil explore both the past and current tensions in their relationship. Georgie’s family (mom, very young stepdad, much younger sister and assorted spoiled dogs) provide comic relief and force Georgie to confront what is going on. Is Neil leaving her or just visiting his family for Christmas? Needless to say, Georgie is not much up for writing comedy as she deals with the drama in her own life. She knows that Neil is the center of her life. What would she do without him?

I may not be a comedy writer for a hit television show, but I struggle every day with the balance between work and family. I deal with assorted family members that I love even when they don’t follow the script I would write for them. I may not have a direct line to my past, but my actions yesterday and today continue to influence what happens tomorrow. What would you do if you had a direct line to someone in your past?

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