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A baby girl is abandoned, banished from London to the storm-ravaged American city of New Bohemia. Her father has been driven mad by jealousy, her mother to exile by grief. Seventeen years later, Perdita doesn't know a lot about who she is or where she's come from - but she's about to find out.

Jeanette Winterson's retelling of The Winter’s Tale is alive with the poetry of the Shakespearean original, but also tells a modern story of love and loss. The Gap of Time takes the reader on a journey to show that no matter how far we are separated from each other, we can always be found again.

To celebrate the paperback release of The Gap of Time, we have 50 copies of this lyrical, compelling novel to give away to Mumsnetters who want to read and share their thoughts about it on this discussion. Go to the giveaway page to find out more about the book and apply for a free copy.

You don't have to win a free copy to take part in the discussion. Anyone who has read The Gap of Time can post their feedback here. If you miss out on a free one, you can buy a paperback. All who post feedback before 16 August will be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 Love2shop voucher. The giveaway ends on Monday 4 July so apply now!

This giveaway is sponsored by Vintage Books

Well, I've finished it now and here's the promised update.

Overall I quite enjoyed this; but do stick to some of my initial comments made here earlier. Winterson clearly loves the play, which has deep personal resonance for her, ('It's a play about a foundling. And I am') and she knows it well. She handles the plot sensitively and at times lyrically; she interweaves the tragic tale of her characters' misunderstandings, jealousy and all the many twists and turns of their lives and relationships with many modern references to computer gaming and life in a recognisably contemporary London as well as in a more geographically vague elsewhere, 'New Bohemia'.

While the characters are all eventually reunited at the end (with the exception of the poor child Milo, whose death in a needless airport accident is only revealed rather perfunctorily very near the end, making us even more irritated with his father, the feckless and hugely unlikeable Leo!) - Winterson actually - deliberately - walks away from the ultimate Reunion To End Them All after the final concert in The Roundhouse, which includes, this time, the reclusive MiMi. (We gather she has been lured back by the wonderful Pauline from her solitary life of haunting the riverbank in Paris; but aren't clear why she hasn't already made contact with her rediscovered daughter Perdita before publically launching into song again after so many years of silence). Psychologically I found this unconvincing, as MiMi's character thus never gets revisited or developed. There is also of course the big unanswered question as to whether she will indeed forgive and be reunited with obnoxious Leo... if it was me, I certainly wouldn't!!

The novel leaves the characters to sort out their own reunion while Winterson steps out of the novel (where she has been lurking unobtrusively for a while) to embark on a brief, final, rather academic meditation about Shakespeare's last plays and themes, reminding us how towards the end of his life, forgiveness, for Shakespeare, seems to triumph over tragedy and revenge. Perdita is then left to offer some poetic, slightly clichéd observations about life, and how the young may, or may not, do it better.

It's an OK book - maybe 3 out of 5 stars. It became a bit of a struggle to get through it, to be honest, as ultimately I found it altogether a bit too repetitive and contrived. Winterson has a nice way with words at times, though, and there were a couple of moments when I felt briefly moved.

Thank you Mumsnet and Vintage for giving me the opportunity to read this novel.

I really enjoyed reading the novel. The quick summary of 'The Winter's Tale' was much appreciated as it had been a long time since I'd read the play.

Having worked in the City I could recognise some personality elements of Leo's character but he was painted almost as a pantomime villain throughout the novel with few redeeming features. I felt the characters of Xeno and Mimi were similarly flawed - allowing their lives to be damaged by Leo's arrogance and jealousy. The faults of the 'grown ups'
within the play were contrasted by the bravery (or youthful rashness?) of Perdita and Zel who upon learning the truth of Perdita's abandonment immediately confront the main protagonists.

The novel is fast-paced and similar to Shakespeare's original the opening events can appear a little rushed. The writing style is beautiful and the themes of jealousy and forgiveness are easily transferred to a modern setting. I'd definitely recommend this novel - not only to Shakespeare fans but as an entertaining standalone novel.

Thank you to the previous poster who reminded me how good Jane Smiley's 'A Thousand Acres' is - a re-read is now planned!

A very good book. I haven't read A Winter's Tale but i thoroughly enjoyed reading the Gap of Time. So much drama typical of our everyday lives. The Shakespeare's story was transformed beautifully in a modern tale adopting the characters' names and places. I would definitely recommend this book

I read Jeanette's book really quickly (it's a pacey read) and when I dipped into the thread a few days after receiving the book there was only 1 poster here. I then looked at other reviews online and was somewhat astonished at the resoundingly positive reviews. My view resonates with whenthetimecomes'... I love the play and studied it for A level and I saw the play at Stratford many moons ago when Jeremy Irons played Leontes...

Jeanette is quite a prolific writer; looking at the canon of her work I've read a few of her books over the years and more recently her memoir 'Why be happy when you could be normal' which I bought for 2 friends (just WONDERFUL).

What I couldn't transcend were the contrivances to get the story to represent a version of today's reality - I really felt that Jeanette isn't worldly enough to write about contemporary life (technology etc) with conviction.

Parts are written beautifully, such as the opening section written in the first person, which is very affecting.

Would I recommend this to a friend? Yes with some caveats (3/5). Would I read other novels in this series (Shakespearean plays re-envisaged by modern writers) - yes; especially looking out for the one by Anne Tyler.

Thank you for the free copy of this book. It is not a book I would have picked up normally because of my somewhat ambivalent attitude towards Shakespeare, but I have previously admired Janette Winterson's writing and so was keen to give it a go. I found it a little hard to get into at first, possibly because I couldn't empathise with the characters, but this changed for me when the narrative moved back to New Bohemia and the adult Perdita was introduced. As I became more immersed, I began to appreciate the quality of the writing - my favourite quote: "He doesn't take a photo or a video because he wants to remember we - by which he means he wants to misremember because the moment is made up of what the camera can't capture". The second half of the book became 'unputdownable'.
Not sure this has made me want to go off and read more Shakespeare, but I may well look out for other modern retellings and I will certainly revisit other Janette Winterson books.

Just finished this book and I loved it. I agree with the previous comments it is clever, engaging a really intriguing update which unfortunately just goes to show that human nature doesn't change. I really enjoyed this book.

Haven't read or seen this particular Shakespeare play so the condensed version was useful. I thought it was well written and I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I particularly liked the way the author ended the book.

Thank you SO much for this book. I'm 3/4 of the way through it and loving it. I have always really enjoyed Jeanette Winterson's books, and this is no exception, it's making me laugh and cry, exceptionally well written, although I'm finding parts of it very difficult emotionally - when Mimi has her baby for example. Brilliant book (so far!) which I would highly recommend.

Although I like Winterson's books I was a bit unsure about this at first, but was pleasantly surprised.

Sort of an unusual mix of the re-telling of The Winter's Tale combined with typical Winterson-esque commentary on life!
Great humourous dialogue, as usual.

Thank you Mumsnet for my copy of this book.

This is the first book by Jeanette Winterson that I have read and I don’t think that I will be quick to read a second.

I have never read The Winter’s Tale and I do not remember seeing it when I was about 12. It was therefore useful to have a summary of the play at the beginning. Whilst the knowledge of the play isn’t essential to enjoy the book, the knowledge that it was based upon the play did explain a lot as at times the characters appeared almost caricatures, something which I imagine works much better on stage than on paper.

It was unsatisfactory the quick and abrupt way that Milo’s death was dealt with (although I assume that this is a reflection upon the play) and it would have been interesting to have received more information about the effect that time had had upon Mimi as we do not see anywhere near as much of her as Leo and Xeno.

The prose seemed rather crude and clunky at times although at others it felt very Shakespearian in speed and style, especially in the comedy scenes.

Don’t get me wrong I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either. I found a lot of Leo’s early scenes just uncomfortable although it was an otherwise easy read.

Thank you for my copy. It is a great read. It is a very clever and beautiful reworking of A Winter's Tale. I will have to a look out for the others in this series. I am particularly intrigued by Hag -Seed (Tempest) by Margaret Atwood.

I love Shakespeare. Those plays which I have studied, read, watched have become good friends. In a way I am pleased I haven't, yet, acquainted myself with The Winter's Tale, as I fear I would have felt less favourably on The Gap of Time if I had done so.

Please don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the book, but, like other posters, struggled to be at ease with some of the contrivances. To my mind it was as though the old play was trying to fit into clothing one size too small. It just didn't quite fit. I think that if I knew, and loved the play, I would have felt uncomfortable.

As it was I just read it for what it was and enjoyed it.

Many thanks, Mumsnet!

I love Shakespeare so I wasn't too sure what I would make of a re-telling although I'm happy to say it's safe in the hands of Jeanette Winterson. Very humorous and an enjoyable read. Thank you Mumsnet.

Thank you for my book :)
I have to say I was a little sceptical having read the blurb as I'm not a massive shakespeare fan, as much as I respect the talent in his work. However, I must say that I've been very pleasantly surprised. It has been acccessible and interesting, the characters are well developed and the plot has had me intrigued along the way - it hasn't felt like just reading a re-written 'Winters Tale', and though I see the similarities it has felt like reading an original text at the same time. I have enjoyed the artful prose and complex relationships between characters - I have to force myself to put it down to get to sleep at night! I'll leave another review here once I've finished it, but I would highly recommend the book and am very grateful for my copy. Thank you Mumsnet!

This was not my usual type of book to read but I found I soon got into it and started to enjoy it. It was a modern day Shakespeare story and I did not know the storyline so each chapter was engaging. Well worth a read.