An Instant, Eternal

Sophie Alexander, out of college and abandoned by her fiancee, decides to take on work as a light housekeeper for the novelist Emerson Williams while he composes his next manuscript. Sophie hopes to get her life back together and figure out her next step while facing the emotional fallout of her almost-marriage, and figures the New Hampshire island on which Emerson lives is the perfect place to do so. As she works for Emerson, she decides to read one of his novels, Before the Tide, to better understand him, his past, and his declaration that he is at war with time. Sophie begins to suspect that Emerson might be able to control much more than just events in his books, for she notices strange parallels between what he writes and what she sees around her. Before the Tide quickly becomes a parallel plot to Sophie's own story, and ultimately, the two intertwine. Just as Sophie falls romantically for Emerson, she discovers an unpublished chapter from the novel she is reading, which mirrors her own arrival and experiences on the island. She begins to wonder if she herself is being controlled by Emerson. But with all writing, nothing is ever quite what it seems. An Instant, Eternal, explores ideas of time, reality, beauty, God, creation, and how they are all interwoven into existence -and how you can never go back to yesterday, even when you are trying to escape it.