THE EDGE OF YESTERDAY
The Edge of Yesterday is a haunting contemporary speculative novel about time travel and finding yourself from award-winning author Rita Woods.
Greer Coffey is a principal dancer with a renowned Harlem company. Sebastian Coffey is an architect with a prestigious Midtown firm. The Coffeys are the ultimate dream couple — until their world completely unravels. After Greer develops a career ending neurologic disorder, she finds herself back in her hometown of Detroit. Angry, lonely, her marriage buckling under the strain, she takes to aimlessly wandering the city streets. One night, she stumbles through a vortex, a portal through time that transports her back into 1925 Detroit,
The Edge of Yesterday is a haunting contemporary speculative novel about time travel and finding yourself from award-winning author Rita Woods.
Greer Coffey is a principal dancer with a renowned Harlem company. Sebastian Coffey is an architect with a prestigious Midtown firm. The Coffeys are the ultimate dream couple — until their world completely unravels. After Greer develops a career ending neurologic disorder, she finds herself back in her hometown of Detroit. Angry, lonely, her marriage buckling under the strain, she takes to aimlessly wandering the city streets. One night, she stumbles through a vortex, a portal through time that transports her back into 1925 Detroit, where she meets a handsome, charming doctor.
Dr. Montgomery Gray is a member of Detroit’s Black Aristocracy, wealthy and connected to some of the most powerful Black families in the country. Detroit in 1925 is the beating heart of an industrial nation, but it is also a tinderbox of poor immigrants, Prohibition driven gang wars, and the Klan. As a member of the Talented Tenth, Monty is expected to be the tip of the spear in the fight for the Race, no matter the cost. Exhausted, frustrated, and longing to break free of expectations, he is stunned to find a woman from the future roaming Detroit’s Black Bottom.
Initially cautious, Monty and Greer slowly grow increasingly exhilarated with the visits. For Greer, 1925 offers an escape from the sorrow of her “real life,” and for Monty, the future that Greer lays before him is irresistible. But 2025 becomes gradually less and less recognizable, as each visit back through time causes increasing rips in the timeline. Ultimately, Greer finds herself trapped in 1925, and Monty is forced into a deadly confrontation that changes the trajectory of his life.
- Forge Books
- Hardcover
- April 2025
- 288 Pages
- 9781250805645
Buy the Book
$28.99
About Rita Woods
Rita Woods was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She received a BS in Microbiology from Purdue University before graduating from Howard University College of Medicine. She completed her training at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska and currently serves as Medical Director of a Wellness Center that provides care for members of one of the largest Trade Unions in the nation. Rita lives in suburban Chicago with her family, where she also serves as a Trustee on her local library board. She loves magic, books, history, coffee, and traveling, not necessarily in that order. She is the author of the award-winning novel Remembrance and The Last Dreamwalker.
Praise
“In The Edge of Yesterday Rita Woods offers a fresh and unique take to time travel—and its possible reality bending ramifications. Somewhere between Octavia Butler’s Kindred and Blake Crouch’s Recursion, this story forces us to confront both the ghosts of our past and the unforeseen consequences of trying to alter it. Both gripping and haunting, I could not put this one down!” —P. Djèlí Clark, award-winning author of A Master of Djinn
“The Edge of Yesterday is a spinning, swirling novel of extraordinary imagination. Readers are transported back and forth in time in an unforgettable story of second chances and what ifs.” —Elizabeth Gonzalez James, author of The Bullet Swallower
“Expertly weaving together the past and the present, The Edge of Yesterday is a poignant tale about the dangers of pursuing a freedom one was never meant to have, and about surviving those consequences by holding onto the hope of tomorrow. A story so universal it transcends time.” —O.O. Sangoyomi, author of Masquerade
“Rita Woods is one of my go-to authors. Her keen prose, vivid storytelling, and rich characters always leave me wanting more.” —Susan Dennard, New York Times bestselling author