Taylor Jenkins Reid

A new novel about a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame

A Novel

Maybe in Another Life

Chloe Heisserer

"I think as long as you' re happy and you're doing something good with your life, it really doesn't matter whether you went out and found the perfect thing or you chose what you knew you could make work for you."

It's entirely possible that every time we make a decision, there is a version of us out there somewhere who made a different choice. An infinite number of versions of ourselves are living out the consequences of every single possibility in our lives. What I'm getting at here is that I know there may be universes out there where I made different choices that led me somewhere else, led me to someone else.

And I think to myself that if, by being here, I have taken away one one-hundredth of the pain that Gabby feels, then maybe I have more of a life's purpose than I ever thought.

"Divide the pain in two," I tell her. "And give half of it to me."

But I wonder how different my world would be if any of those things had happened. You can't change just one part, can you? When you sit there and wish things had happened differ-ently, you can't just wish away the bad stuff. You have to think about all the good stuff you might lose, too. Better just to stay in the now and focus on what you can do better in the future.

I don't believe that being in love absolves you of anything. I no longer believe that all's fair in love and war. I'd go so far as to say your actions in love are not an exception to who you are.

They are, in fact, the very definition of who you are.

Sarah Campbell

“From experience, I can tell you that if you go around trying to figure out what’s fair in life or whether you deserve something or not, that’s a rabbit hope that is hard to climb out of.” 

How weird is that? How absolutely insane is that? The difference between life and death could be as simple and as uncomfortably slight as a step you take in either direction. 

Which means that I am here today, alive today, because I made the right choices, however brief and insignificant they felt at the time. I made the right choices. 

In general, I find that when you are doing something you are not supposed to be doing, the best course of action is to act as if you are absolutely supposed to be doing it.

Maybe in Another Life quotes

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