Elburn author to sign her book at Harvey’s Tales in Geneva Sept. 7

Enter the time space, a soaring library filled with books with the memories of those have passed and accessed only by specially made watches once passed from father to son – but mostly now in government hands, in a new novel by Elburn resident Hayley Gelfuso.

Gelfuso will be signing copies of her novel “The Book of Lost Hours” from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7 at Harvey’s Tales Bookstore & Cafe, 216 James St., Geneva.

For fans of “The Ministry of Time” and “The Midnight Library,” Gelfuso’s novel follows two women moving between postwar and Cold War-era America and the mysterious time space, a library filled with books containing the memories of those who bore witness to history, according to a news release.

This is where 11-year-old Lisavet Levy finds herself trapped in 1938, waiting for her watchmaker father to return for her.

When he doesn’t, she grows up among the books and ghosts, able to see the world only by sifting through the memories of those who came before.

As Lisavet realizes that government agents are entering the time space to destroy books and maintain their preferred version of history, she sets about saving these scraps in her own volume of memories, according to the release.

An American spy, Ernest Duquesne from 1949, offers her a glimpse of the world she left behind, and sets her on a course to change history and possibly the time space itself.

In 1965, 16-year-old Amelia Duquesne is mourning the disappearance of her uncle Ernest when a CIA agent approaches to enlist her help in tracking down a book of memories her uncle had once sought, the release stated.

When Amelia visits the time space for the first time, she realizes that the past – and the truth – might not be as linear as she’d like to believe.

“The Book of Lost Hours,” published by Atria Books, part of Simon & Schuster, is set for release Aug. 26.