Novel help: Intermixing past and present

[carolynwhite2]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "annemehr" <annemehr at y...> 
wrote:
> --- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Saitaina" <saitaina at f...> 
wrote:
> 
> > Alternating chapters between current time (now)
> > and the past.  Such as, Chapter One: New York,
> > 2004, Chapter Two: Romania, 1756 (examples, not
> > actual dates)
> 
> Katherine Neville's _The Eight_ was written like this, and I liked
> that style very much.  It worked for that book especially, because
> each timeline was as important as the other.  I suggest this way if
> you have more than just a little to tell about the past.
> 
> Annemehr

Peg Kerr's book 'The Wild Swans' did the same thing. Personally, it 
didn't work for me, but mainly because I thought there wasn't much 
connection between the two stories (contemporary and medieval)that 
she was telling. There was just a tiny link up in the final chapter.

One book where the technique worked brilliantly IMO was 'Possession' 
by A S Byatt, unravelling a historical mystery but also a parallel 
bittersweet contemporary romance between the literary researchers.

Carolyn