★Time’s Agent. Brenda Peynado. Tor.com. Aug. 2024. 224p. ISBN 9781250854315. pap. $16.99. SF

DEBUT Raquel Petra thinks she has it all. She’s young, idealistic, and financially secure; she has a happy marriage, a beautiful daughter, a found family in her coworkers, and a job that is doing good in the world. But that perfect life is shattered when Raquel makes one tiny mistake that takes 40 years to even begin to fix. Raquel spends these years in a fast-time pocket world, while the real world spins out of control. Alone and grieving the loss of everyone and everything she knew, she puts together a desperate plan, not to fix things but to escape her present nightmare into a brave new world of her very own. There are huge, fascinating ideas laced throughout this story of shattering grief. Steeped in Peynado’s Dominican culture, the novel’s setting and its seemingly sudden destruction point to the evils of colonialism while demonstrating that this has all happened before and will again. Meanwhile, Raquel’s archeological research into her country’s destroyed history proves that hope and solutions can be found in unexpected times and places. VERDICT Fans of Carmen Maria Machado will find in this debut novelist a new author to follow every bit as voraciously.