** spoiler alert ** 
 Please be warned, massive spoilers ahead. 
 So when I read the blurb of this book, I was instantly drawn in by the idea of two different timelines of the twentieth century - one where everything was better than our timeline, and one where everything was worse. As I began to read, and came to the divergent point I was sure that Pat's timeline with Bee would be the more progressive timeline, while Tricia's one with Mark would be the more draconian, and for a time the text seems to follow this idea, right up until Kennedy when things were rather masterfully reversed. The fact that Trish's timeline, where her deeply unhappy marriage with Mark leads her to take up the cause of social justice, and thus bring change into the world is such a potent metaphor for the fact that you cannot have everything and that life is a mixed bag of good and bad. This is (obviously) mirrored by Pat's timeline, where her obvious happiness with Bee and her success and happiness in life means that she does not take up social causes and finds herself in a world where although she is happy, things are far worse. 
 Beyond all this however, lies Walton's considerable skill as an author, whereby she manages to fit two competing timelines into just over three hundred pages, without making them feel rushed or unsatisfying in there scope. For that, she needs to be commended. 
 Definitely a read for anyone who is fascinated by alternate timelines or family sagas.