Thread Traveller

By: Annabel Youens

Narrated by: Naomi Rose-Mock

What if abandoning your family actually saved you?

August Monk has built her life on control—every deadline tracked, crisis managed, milestone marked. But at 47, with her company hemorrhaging money and her marriage fracturing, even perimenopause rejects her careful plans.

On a family holiday, August is certain her joy will return and her marriage will repair. Instead, at Britain's oldest brewery, a sip of beer transports August to an alternate reality where she awakens naked in a field of pulsing red mushrooms.

Taken in by Margaret, a midwife harbouring dangerous secrets, August discovers a world where women commune with the fungal network beneath their feet, a powerful connection revered and hunted.

As August brews beer convinced it will send her home, the mycelial web whispers secrets she's just beginning to understand. When Margaret's female community faces persecution from a zealous priest, August must choose: fight for this newfound family or find her way back to the daughter she left behind.

©2025 Annabel Youens (P)2025 Annabel Youens

Impactful

In Thread Traveller by Annabel Youens, I experienced a story where multiple perspectives gently weave into one. Going in without expectations, I found a path between emotional realism and speculative fantasy.

The main character, August, faces the struggles many mothers face today - juggling work, family, identity, and pressure, in an unexpectedly myth-rich world connected deep to nature and the Mother Land beneath it.

This book is more than time travel; it's a spiritual and emotional journey that explores complex themes around identity, biology, and belief systems. While some aspects may feel challenging at first, the story ultimately leans towards awareness, healing, and understanding rather than negativity. For some people, this may be challenging, but I believe that is the point of this book. The author wants everyone to know that life is beautiful and deserves to be treasured, no matter what. You're not supposed to understand or know everything, but just live and love.



Her prose writing brings the magical elements to life, especially through word-building centered on fungi and restoration. Though I wish for a stronger emotional pull through the middle of the book, the beginning and the ending deeply resonated with me.


Overall, Thread Traveller is a thoughtful and reflective read that will connect with readers in different ways.