INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"GRACEFUL, COMPLICATED, SATISFYING." –BONNIE GARMUS, AUTHOR OF LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY

The multi-million copy bestselling author of The Time Traveler’s Wife returns with an exhilarating speculative story set in a dystopian future where virtual reality and real life converge.

Alba DeTamble has never lived a life in order. Born with the same rare Chrono-Displacement Disorder as her father Henry, she slips unpredictably through decades, haunted by the secrets of a future she can witness but cannot change. As Alba strives to maintain a normal life with Zach, her safe, supportive anchor, she forms a tight-knit community of artists and activists who fight to take care of each other in an increasingly unstable world. 

At once intimate and expansive, Life Out of Order plunges readers into a world of Niffenegger’s dazzling imagination: from the riot-torn streets of a dystopian Chicago, to a digital museum for forgotten memories and lost artifacts. Curating this ever-expanding museum is Isadora, Alba’s mysterious stepsister and an unsettling presence in their family – whose fate may be intertwined with Alba’s in more dangerous ways than she knows.

Told through a kaleidoscope of perspectives, the story moves through a boundless, unfolding universe of virtual reality, skimming the wildest reaches of technology and our natural world. The result is a testament to the power of art and community to sustain us in these fractured times—and an epic tale that’s set to define an entirely new genre in a way only Niffenegger can.

About the Author

Audrey Niffenegger is a visual artist and writer who lives in Chicago andLondon. Her book art, prints, and paintings are included in the collections ofthe National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, theNewberry Library, and the Library of Congress, among others.

In 2019, shefounded Artists Book House, a non-profit center for the literary and book arts.Ms. Niffenegger was also one of the founders of the Columbia College ChicagoCenter for Book and Paper Arts.

She was a Professor at Columbia College until2015. She has published eight books, including the novels The TimeTraveler’s Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry, as well as thegraphic novels Raven Girl, The Night Bookmobile, and BizarreRomance (with Eddie Campbell). The Time Traveler’s Wife hasbeen adapted into a film, an HBO television series, and a West End stagemusical. Other adaptations include a ballet of Raven Girl, whichwas created by the choreographer Wayne McGregor in 2013 for the Royal OperaHouse Ballet.