A Page in Your Diary

Synopsis

Ten insane days. One miraculous opportunity to re-write the past.

In May 1987 Jackie Benton received a heartbreaking phone call from her boyfriend, Sean Hardy, bringing an end to their five-year relationship. He’d fallen for a fellow student at Exeter University.

Sean and Jackie would never see each other again.

Thirty-three years later, Sean returns to his home town. There, he inadvertently discovers what became of Jackie Benton.

That discovery instigates a series of events, culminating in a miraculous journey back in time – only days before a catastrophic event in 1988 destroyed Jackie’s life. Unbelievably, Sean has been gifted a chance to befriend his first love and steer her away from certain tragedy.

However, Sean faces one major obstacle – Jackie is an angsty youth, and he’s old enough to be her father. Then, there’s the challenge of keeping his true identity a secret while navigating life in ’80s Britain.

With time against him, can Sean connect with his one-time love and make amends for the pain his younger self caused, or will the same tragic history repeat itself?

About This Book

A Page in Your Diary is a time travel novel, but at its heart it’s a story about guilt, atonement, and whether it’s possible to undo the damage you’ve caused in someone else’s life. Unlike The ’86 Fix — where Craig goes back to fix his own past — Sean Hardy travels back to 1988 to save the woman whose life was destroyed, in part, by his actions. It’s a crucial difference, and it gives this book a moral and emotional weight that sets it apart from most time travel fiction.

Sean isn’t a loveable rogue. He’s a middle-aged man reckoning with the consequences of a selfish decision he made in his twenties — and discovering, decades later, just how devastating those consequences were. The time travel gives him a chance to make amends, but the challenge is immense: he’s a man in his fifties trying to befriend a suspicious young woman in 1988 without revealing who he really is.

It’s steeped in 1980s nostalgia — the music, the shops, the culture — but the emotional core is about regret, responsibility, and whether one person can change another’s fate. Readers consistently say it moved them to tears.

Who Is This Book For?

A Page in Your Diary appeals to readers who enjoy time travel fiction with real emotional stakes. If you loved The ’86 Fix and want something with a darker, more mature edge, this delivers. It’s also a strong pick for readers who enjoy second-chance stories, atonement narratives, and fiction that explores the long-term consequences of the choices we make when we’re too young to understand them.

Readers often compare it to films like About Time and The Time Traveler’s Wife — stories where time travel is the mechanism but love and loss are the point. If you enjoy fiction by Mike Gayle, David Nicholls, or Jojo Moyes, the emotional territory will feel familiar even if the time travel element is new to you.

It’s a standalone novel with no connection to The ’86 Fix or any of Keith’s other books or series.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is A Page in Your Diary connected to The ’86 Fix?
No. Both are time travel novels set in the 1980s, but they’re completely separate stories with different characters. You don’t need to have read The ’86 Fix to enjoy this book, and the tone is quite different — A Page in Your Diary is darker and more emotionally intense.

How does this compare to The ’86 Fix?
The ’86 Fix is a nostalgic romp about a man fixing his own life. A Page in Your Diary is about a man trying to fix someone else’s — someone he hurt. The stakes are higher, the themes are heavier, and the emotional payoff hits harder. Both are set in the 1980s, both feature time travel, but they’re very different books.

Is it a love story?
Not in the conventional sense. It’s a story driven by guilt, regret, and the desire to make amends. There’s love at its centre — the love Sean once had for Jackie, and the question of whether it can be redeemed — but this isn’t a romance. It’s closer to an atonement story with a time travel device.

Does it deal with difficult subject matter?
Yes. Without spoiling the plot, the “catastrophic event” referenced in the synopsis involves serious subject matter. Keith handles it with sensitivity, but readers should be aware that the book goes to some dark places alongside the nostalgia and humour.

Who narrates the audiobook?
The audiobook is narrated by Michael Troughton and is available on Audible and other audiobook platforms.