Indiana Belle, A Time Travel Romance Review

John A. Heldt’s book Indiana Belle was not what I expected. I saw the cover and thought that it was a historical fiction about a woman in the Roaring 20s rebelling against the norms of societal expectations. It is — but it’s also so much more. The unique tale contains aspects of science fiction, mystery, and romance, all while telling a compelling story using many genre tropes.

Indiana Belle: The Plot

In 2017, historian Cameron Coelho studied the cultural dynamics and social norms of the American Midwest in the Roaring 20s. He finds a diary written by Candice Louise Bell, a journalist and society editor who lived in Evansville, Indiana at the time. He reads her diary and finds a curious reference about her father and uncle discovering time travel.

Cameron is advised to interview Candice’s distant cousin, Geoffrey Bell. Geoffrey knows about time travel and can help Cameron. Cameron wants to go to his chosen time period because he is attracted to Candice but also because upon further investigation, Cameron learns that Candice will be murdered on June 2, 1925. He is going to save her life!

Indiana Belle: Science Fiction

The conversations between Cameron and Geoffrey contain most of the time travel aspects. For example, Geoffrey admits that he knows about Candice’s family’s time travel discovery — he and others have done it many times. Geoffrey and his wife, Jeanette, accessed a tunnel which allows bend in space and time. Occasionally, they invite other guests but there are rules and limitations.

The time travel is powered by crystals that Candice’s father and uncle found in the Sierra Nevadas. Geoffrey has a limited amount and needs more and that’s why he’s willing to grant Cameron permission to use the tunnel to meet Candice. That is, of course, providing that he finds the location in the Sierra Nevadas so he can obtain more crystals for his research… 

The book upholds the time travel concept rules with focused locations and rules. However, there is one part which doesn’t fit in at all and violates original concepts that the book already established. It’s stated repeatedly that time travelers can only travel throughout the 20th century and cannot visit the future beyond the date of the initial traveling.

However, this caveat is broken when Cameron later takes a brief but unnecessary trip into the  2040s which is not important to the plot and does not lead to any real resolution. The only possibility is that this trip reveals that after Cameron found the crystals, he was able to take extended trips.

Unfortunately, this unnecessary chapter reveals a dystopia that is frustratingly neither elaborated upon nor altered. Perhaps it’s meant as a set up for the next book? But I digress.

Indiana Belle: Historical Fiction 

Heldt’s writing excels during Cameron’s time in the 1920s. Cameron’s like one of those people who take personality tests to find out what time they would fit in. He chose the 1920s and it fits him perfectly.

Cameron encounters flappers, college men, housewives, and small town politicians with the air of someone who has culture shock enveloped in the ability to adjust. After all, studying about a time is different from living in it. He thrives in the slower pace even amidst early progress in a world reinventing itself after a worldwide war and looking forward to happy carefree times.

The 1920s is a time when someone like Candice could actually do well for herself. Women received the right to vote in 1920 and were freed from dressing restrictions such as corsets and tight outfits. Many were able to live lives as independent women beyond familial constraints. 

Candice herself aspires for a career in news journalism. She writes the society column but is looking for bigger challenges in news writing. Her editor insists that as a woman, she is too soft and inexperienced to write stories about murder, corruption, and violence. She aims to prove him wrong.

Her investigations into local politics reveal many scandals; her encounters with organized crime and the Ku Klux Klan reveal darker sides to the time period. They remind Cameron, and no doubt readers, that no time period is perfect. Nostalgia only tells half truths of good memories and filters out tougher times and travesties. 

The KKK’s presence is one such example. They were resurrected in this time period because of the release of the film, Birth of a Nation which idealized the hate group. This organization increased numbers and retained a wide influence in the American South and Midwest. They were a large presence in Indiana so Heldt’s historical detail and rejection of rose tinted nostalgia are both in play. 

Indiana Belle: Mystery and Romance

Indiana Belle also includes elements of mystery and romance. Since Candice’s killer was unknown, though a black man was accused and scapegoated by the system, Cameron has to discover their identity before her death date.

During Candice’s news research, she is verbally and physically attacked by citizens. She receives death threats and is stalked. There’s a long list of potential suspects. 

While she conducts her investigations, Cameron does his. He interviews various people in Candice’s life about who would hate her enough to kill her. He studies her daily routines to discover any intentional discrepancies that could lead to the identity of her killer. But, he must do this without telling Candice what is to come.

The romance between a time traveler and local citizen has been done before, many times, but it is beautifully constructed here. Cameron was attracted to Candice through her diary entries, letters, and photographs.

It’s also important to note that he was fascinated by her before he saw her picture. He was attracted to her spirit, her writing, her description, and her enthusiasm for her career. But still he only had sketches of who she was as a person. It took meeting her and seeing her as a whole woman for him to consider a partnership.

While Cameron is intrigued by what he knows about Candice, Candice is the opposite. She is fascinated by what she doesn’t know about him. She lives in a small town in the early 20th century where she has known many people since birth. This handsome strange newcomer offers her some excitement and mystery.

She also sees someone who, like her, has a gift for language, attention to detail, and curiosity for the truth in their investigations. They are able to talk as partners and equals before they consider becoming a couple.

Indiana Belle: Who is this For?

Lovers of historical romances and time travel science fiction and fantasy like The Time Traveler’s Wife and Outlander will love this book.

Indiana Belle combines the fantastical possibilities of science fiction, the rich detail of historical fiction, and throws in a bit of romance and mystery for some added bonuses. The compelling concept suggests that sometimes people who are meant for each other may not always live in the same place — or in this case, the same time.

Indiana Belle is the third book in Heldt’s American Journey series. The books feature different characters traveling to different time periods but are connected by using the same time tunnels and crystals. (Indiana Belle implies that the protagonists of the other books are the guests that Geoffrey Bell admitted to sending through time.) 

Heldt has written 25 novels, most of them about time travel. Indiana Belle proves that like his chosen topic, Heldt and his books are timeless.

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