Gabrielle Meyer is a Christy Award winner and ECPA bestselling author. She has worked for state and local historical societies and loves writing fiction inspired by real people, places, and events. She currently resides along the banks of the Mississippi River in central Minnesota with her husband and four children. By day, she’s a busy homeschool mom, and by night she pens fiction and nonfiction filled with hope.
While she thought she had a good grasp on the story of Jack the Ripper, Gabrielle was surprised at how much history has hidden from modern forensic science. This new book in her Timeless series pushed her writing to new limits in many ways.
FF: Can you please provide a brief summary of Every Hour until Then?
Born with the time-crossing gift, Kathryn lives in 1938 on the brink of WWII and 1888 in Victorian London. Each night, when she falls asleep in one path, she wakes up in the other, with no time passing while she’s gone. On her 25th birthday, she must choose one life to keep and one to forfeit. In 1938, she works for the Smithsonian and is invited to the London Museum as a guest curator to assemble an exhibit about Jack the Ripper. While there, she discovers that her missing sister from 1888 will be Jack’s last victim. In a race against time, and time-crossing rules, Kathryn will need to unmask the man history has chosen to keep secret to save her sister. But in the process, she might lose the one man she’s always loved.
FF: Your TIMELESS series spans many different time periods. What inspired you to blend World War II and the Victorian era timelines for Every Hour until Then?
In each of my other stories, the heroines lived in eras that were much farther apart. For Every Hour until Then, I wanted our heroine to only have fifty years between her paths, knowing it would present different challenges and opportunities than the other books. Since Kathryn is the daughter of a previous time-crosser who stayed in 1912, it worked that her daughter was living in Washington, DC, in 1938. When the story started to come together, I had so much fun with these years. Even though they are only fifty years apart, a lot of drastic changes took place.
FF: How did you balance the dual time lines while keeping both time periods distinct?
It usually isn’t hard to keep the time periods distinct because they are often so different, however Every Hour until Then posed a unique problem because the bulk of both timelines takes place in London and only fifty years separates them. Thankfully, a lot changed in those fifty years, and I was able to use the culture around Kathryn to keep the timelines unique. Whether it was her clothing, the mode of transportation, the use of technology, or simply Victorian rules and etiquette, it was easy to differentiate them. And because we have one heroine, with one conscious mind, it’s easy to blend the two paths together to feel like one seamless life.
FF: What surprised you most during your research about Jack the Ripper?
Just like many other topics I’ve researched, I thought I had a good grasp of Jack the Ripper’s history—but I was so unprepared for what I learned! I started by researching the five victims and learned they had a lot in common but had all come to the Whitechapel District (where they were killed) from very different backgrounds. I was shocked that so much of the evidence was destroyed or covered up and that almost everyone involved in the proceedings were Freemasons. There is a lot we still don’t know, but that is surprising, too. Almost 150 years have passed, and forensic science still can’t unmask Jack. It’s clear that some powerful people wanted to keep his identity a secret.
FF: Our protagonist, Kathryn, can time-cross between two eras. What challenges did this present while writing?
It’s always challenging to have a heroine in two eras because she needs to be influenced by both, and her words, behaviors, and thoughts need to reflect the culture of both, but she can’t stand out in either one. She needs to remember how to speak and behave like a Victorian in 1888, but she can’t speak and behave that way in 1938. It’s a challenge, but also fun, too. I love including all the details that make each period stand out and have her reflect on what she likes or dislikes about them. For instance, she hates corsets in 1888 but loves the femininity of the Victorian styles.
FF: Kathryn faces a major threat of tracking down the Ripper. How does this affect her character development?
I loved creating Kathryn’s character. She knows exactly what she wants in life and doesn’t want her plans to be interrupted. However, when she learns that her sister will become Jack’s last victim, she has a lot of new choices to make, and none of her well-laid plans make sense anymore. She must learn how to adjust and pivot and look at life through new challenges and opportunities. It isn’t an easy journey for her, but she grows and changes throughout the story and has a new perspective about her plans at the end.
FF: What role does Kathryn’s childhood friend play in her journey?
Kathryn’s best friend from her 1888 path is her next-door neighbor, Austen Baird. They were inseparable as children, but a series of events transpired to drive a wedge between them before the story begins, and those events still haunt both of them, casting a new light on the Jack the Ripper mystery. Not only do they need to overcome the past, but they need to find a way to move forward into an unknown future, uncertain if it will be together or not.
FF: How did you balance writing the romantic elements with the darker historical aspects of the story?
All my TIMELESS novels deal with difficult, sometimes dark, events. And, like any time in history, people were still falling in love. It’s often through the most challenging times in life that we bond with people the most, and if we allow them, hardships can draw us together. The love that Kathryn has for her hero is strengthened during the difficult events they experience, and those events reaffirm their feelings for each other.
FF: Faith plays a role throughout your novels. How does this affect Kathryn’s decision making What message do you hope readers take away from this story?
As a person of faith, every decision Kathryn makes is run through the lens of her beliefs. Whether it’s what she says, how she uses her time, how she spends her money, etc., she will take her faith into consideration. On a larger scale, the choices she makes, and the way she processes events, are also influenced by her faith. Whether or not she should change history isn’t just about impacting the world; she also considers how it might impact God’s will and plan for her life. I hope readers will walk away with the message that God’s plans are often better than ours, and that even when life doesn’t work out the way we expect, it will work out the way it should.
FF: Can you share what you’re working on next?
I am currently working on book six in my TIMELESS series called Through Each Tomorrow. It’s a story about time-crossing siblings Charles Pembrooke, the second Earl of Norfolk, and his sister, Lady Cecily. In 1563 they are courtiers to Queen Elizabeth. In Charles’s other path in 1883, he is a poor Virginia farmer but agrees to disguise himself as Lord Norfolk for a Gilded Age summer in Newport, Rhode Island.
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Every Hour Until Then
Timeless, Book #5
Gabrielle Meyer
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Genre: Historical Romance
Release Date: May 20, 2025
Available Formats: Paperback, Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook
ISBN-10: 0764243012
ISBN-13: 978-0764243011
Book Summary:
Gifted with the ability to time-cross between Victorian-era London and World War II Washington, DC, Kathryn faces two lives fraught with danger. In 1938 amid the looming shadow of war, Kathryn is invited to the London Museum as a guest curator to create a groundbreaking exhibit on Jack the Ripper and his reign of terror. As she delves into her grim research, she uncovers a chilling truth: Her own sister is destined to become the Ripper’s final victim decades earlier.
In 1888, in a race against fate, Kathryn is assisted by her handsome childhood friend in hunting down history’s most elusive killer. As they unravel the threads of mystery woven through time, Kathryn must decide if she’ll unmask the murderer history has chosen to hide, forfeiting a life with the man she loves to save her sister.
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