CROSSINGS by Alex Landragin

There are two types of readers in the world: those who like their stories told page by page, so that you always know where you are up to, or those who like the idea of taking a risk and reading a book in a quite different way -  you get to the end of a chapter, and told to go either forwards or backwards to read the next piece of the story. Of course you never then know where exactly you are up to! Once you start, it is probably difficult to go back to reading the book in the conventional way - so quite a risk.... Like most on-line reviewers of this,  I chose to read the jumping around version, and once I got used to it, enjoyed it very much. What a story too!

In the present day,  a Parisian bookbinder is given a manuscript containing three stories, each quite different and unusual. The first is a letter written by the poet Charles Baudelaire to a young girl; the second is a romance set in Paris in 1940 as the Germans are stamping at the gates of Paris, and the third is really quite strange - the story of a woman from a Pacific Island community in pre-European times. Together these three quite separate stories tell the tale of two lost souls through 150 years and 7 lifetimes.

It really is quite strange, but also compelling, rich, descriptive and lovely to read. It could be a gimmick this moving backwards and forwards following the tale, but it never really feels like that mainly due to the uniqueness of the story, the characters, and the magic - you need to suspend disbelief somewhat. It is made more intriguing with real historical figures  featuring as characters - Charles Baudelaire, Walter Benjamin, Coco Chanel, Jeanne Duval, and they don't have minor roles either.  Give this a go, your patience will be rewarded.