Essence

Jocelyn Timmons sees herself as a typical high school senior, busy with classes, a part-time job, volleyball practice and her friends. That view starts to shift when a new neighbor, Jackson Chandler, moves into the house across the street. With his dark, wavy hair, green eyes and magnetic charm, he wins over nearly everyone he meets, everyone except Jocelyn.

Around Jackson, Jocelyn becomes nauseous and light-headed. When he touches her, she loses consciousness and slips into visions of a different life in a different era. The visions grow sharper over time, and she finds herself strongly drawn to the people she sees in them. As her ordinary world falls apart, she begins to doubt her own sanity.

Are these episodes genuine memories of a life she has lived somewhere, at some other point in time? Could they be time travel or another kind of supernatural force? The novel asks whether only the mind can wander, or whether the soul can too.