Given Our History

Clara Fernsby has been academically driven and focused on her future since she was a child, dreaming of becoming a history professor at a prestigious university. Even when she met Theodore Harrison at summer camp, she knew her growing feelings for Teddy could not divert her from her goals. While Clara and Teddy remained close friends throughout their teen years, the timing never seemed right for their attraction to each other to blossom. Years of missed opportunities, rejections, and distance take their toll, and the two grow apart. Clara lands a tenure-track position teaching history at a private college, where Teddy shows up as a visiting professor. Working on a project together stirs up long-buried feelings between them, and Clara soon remembers her affection for the boy while dealing with the man he has become. Miller skillfully tells this story that is a sweet mix of attraction and ill-timed love as it alternates between the present and flashbacks to Clara’s childhood.