The Mirror

Marlys Millhiser

This was published twenty years ago as general fiction. It is a story of time travel, which also makes it science fiction. When I first read it, I was fascinated, and the story has stuck with me all these years. I had to re-read it. It was as I remembered, and still as good.

Shay Garrett is getting ready for her wedding the following day. Her grandmother, Brandy, has been brought from the nursing home to attend the wedding. Brandy has spent most of Shay's life in the nursing home.

Rachel, Shay's mother, gives her an old, ugly mirror that had originally been Brandy's wedding present from her father. That night, Shay looks in the strange mirror and locks gazes with her grandmother. A noise and shaking like an earthquake occurs and Shay passes out.

When she wakes up, everything is wrong. Strange people are hovering around her and calling her Brandy. Her body doesn't feel right. The house has changed, with less and different furniture around. She realizes something is wrong, but it takes a little while to figure what has happened.

Shay's essence has transferred to Brandy's 20 year old body almost 60 years previous to the time Shay knows. Brandy's parents see Brandy, not Shay, and believe the problem with her is the wedding she is being forced into the following day. Shay knows she cannot explain what she does not understand, but she has to get the mirror to put things back the way they belong.

Meanwhile, Brandy's essence is transferred to Shay's body in the future of the time she knows. People dress differently, have different morals, and modern conveniences she knows nothing about. She also quickly guesses what has happened and also does not know how to deal with it. She also looks to the mirror to fix things as she copes in her granddaughter's body.

This deals very well with the confusion of finding oneself in a different time. Shay has no idea how to bake bread, empty a chamberpot, or weed a garden. Brandy does not know how to take a shower, wear short skirts, or what a radio does. Plus the personality change is addressed quite well. Their families realize that Shay/Brandy seem to have changed on their wedding day, but no one knows what to do or how to help them. Of course the real story is too preposterous for anyone to believe.