Last updated on October 14, 2023
If you find out your fate or foresee the future, can you stop it, change it? This is what Rebecca Searle explores in her novel In Five Years, set in New York. Danielle (Dannie) has her life all mapped out and progressing perfectly until a too-real dream has her questioning everything. In the too-real dream, it’s five years later and nothing is as she expects it to be.
When we meet Danielle, she’s about to get engaged. She knows this is happening because nothing in her life happens by mistake or by accident. She likes to be in control of her life and it is going exactly to plan. She’s worked hard for recognition as a lawyer and is about to interview for her dream job. She’s been dating David and it’s time for them to get engaged. After her engagement dinner, she falls asleep and has a dream. In the dream, it’s five years later and she doesn’t recognize her life. She’s in an apartment she’s never seen before, with a man she doesn’t know, wearing a ring that she doesn’t recognize. What happened to David and to her engagement ring? What does the dream mean?
Plans go Awry
The dream puts a tiny sliver into all of Dannie’s plans. Suddenly, she’s not as sure of her plans. Although she sees a psychotherapist, there are no clear answers. She doesn’t know if the dream is a premonition, astral projection, or something else? Regardless, it impacts her predictable life, which suddenly is less predictable. As she tries to solve the mystery, she acts less like herself with her best friend, Bella, and with her fiance, David.
Without knowing what the dream means, and judging it as problematic, Dannie tries to change her circumstances, to avoid the outcome that she dreamed. Yet, it’s not until she’s in the moment that she realizes she misanalyzed the situation. Was she only fulfilling a destiny that she had foreseen in the dream, or did her behavior from the dream actually create the circumstances that enabled her dream to come true?
Final Thoughts on n Five Years
I devoured this book because I wanted to find out what would happen. Would Dannie let the dream shape her destiny, or was the dream her destiny? I found the book multi-layered, rich, with both romantic love and the deep love of friendship and parenthood. If you’re looking for a love story that could make you both cry and laugh, n Five Years fits. While I do have some questions about the plot, I still wholeheartedly recommend the book.
Have you read the book and are trying to make sense of the story or recall some parts? Read The Ending of In Five Years.
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