The Yestertime Series: Novels of Time Travel
The Yestertime Series consists of four books: The Yestertime, The Yestertime Effect, The Yestertime Warning, and The Yestertime Shift . Since this series by Andrew Cunningham is a dynamic series, the writer continues his story in four books concluding the series with The Yestertime Shift. It’s best to read the books in order for greater understanding and appreciation.
Book One- The Yestertime: A Novel of Time Travel
Journalist Ray Burton visits the Arizona ghost town of Hollow Rock to disburse his friend’s ashes. When a storm unexpectedly arrives, he takes shelter in a cave outside of town and discovers a dusty trunk untouched for 150 years. Inside he finds a disturbing mystery: a digital camera.
The camera shows pictures of missing actress Natalie O’Brian and with intense research Ray soon realizes that the missing actress was transported back to the 1870s through the cave’s time portal. After exhausting all ideas to rescue her, he decides to go through the one-way portal himself, thus beginning his 5-year voyage through time.
Author Andrew Cunningham introduces readers to a carefully constructed time-travel premise that feels both imaginative and believable. Time travel is possible, but limited, regulated, and dangerous. The author favors quiet tension and moral complexity. His characters are believable people facing extraordinary circumstances.
The pacing is steady and thoughtful, allowing readers to absorb both the science and the emotional weight of the story. By the time you finish reading book 1 in the Yestertime series, you’ll question whether revisiting the past is a gift or a burden humanity may not be ready to bear.
Before starting his time travel trek, Ray makes friends with Mitch, the publisher of a local Boston magazine, who promises to take care of Ray’s estate while he’s gone. Throughout the four books, we see this relationship blossoming.
The Yestertime is recommended for readers who enjoy intelligent character-driven science fiction with philosophical depth.
Book 2: The Yestertime Effect: A Novel of Time Travel
Characters Ray Burton and Natalie O’Brien return in book two of The Yestertime Effect. They have escaped the late Nineteenth Century and living peacefully in 1958 England. The home they purchase sits on a time portal, so surprise visitors are expected from the past. Thought provoking and emotionally grounded, this second installment leaves readers eager to see how far the ripple effects of time travel will extend.
The Yestertime Effect is a compelling and reflective sequel that explores the true cost of altering time and deepens the emotional impact of the Yestertime series. The plot is exciting and fast, plenty of twists and turns, and well-developed characters.
Book Three: The Yestertime Warning: A Novel of Time Travel
In book three of the Yestertime Series, author Andrew Cunningham’s prose lets silence doubt, and moral ambiguity to carry the narrative. The novel asks difficult questions:
- Is foreknowledge a gift or a curse?
- When does the attempt to fix the past become an act of hubris?
These questions linger well after the final page, giving the book resonance beyond its genre. The Yestertime Warning builds organically on the first two books while setting the stage for what comes next.
Thoughtful, tense, and morally complex, Book Three confirms the author’s talent for blending science fiction with deeply human storytelling—and leaves readers eagerly anticipating the next novel, The Yestertime Shift.
Book Four: The Yestertime Shift
Building seamlessly on the events of the previous three books, The Yestertime Shift expands the consequences of time travel while raising profound questions about fate, responsibility, and the cost of trying to fix the past.
The characters are more layered and emotionally resonant shaped by loss, regret, and the haunting knowledge of what might have been. Their internal struggles are just as compelling as the external conflicts, and the tension feels earned rather than forced.
Readers will notice earlier threads of the story finally converge, while new twists keep the story unpredictable and engaging. The author writes confidently and measured, with a clear sense that the series has matured alongside its characters.
The Yestertime Series is a must read for fans who enjoy thoughtful, character-driven science fiction. It reinforces the idea that the greatest dangers of time travel are not paradoxes or timelines—but the human heart itself.
About the Author
Andrew Cunningham is the author of 22 novels, including the disaster/terrorist thriller DEADLY SHORE; “The Alaska Thrillers Series” (WISDOM SPRING, NOWHERE ALONE, THE 7th PASSENGER, and LOST PASSAGE); the “Yestertime Time Travel Series” the “Lies Mystery Series”; and the post-apocalyptic “Eden Rising Series”. As A.R. Cunningham, he has written THE ARTHUR MACARTHUR MYSTERIES, five humorous children’s mysteries for middle-readers in one volume. Andrew lives in Florida with his wife and two cats.
Great. Sounds like a great time travel series with a little bit of science thrown in.