
Turn of Earth
by Lorna Tedder · Witch in Time Series · Book 2
Secret Lives of Librarians Universe
Think The Time Traveler’s Wife meets Arrival meets The Remains of the Day in a quiet race against time, where love, legacy, and mortality converge in a battle to preserve the future.
Content note: Themes include terminal illness, mortality, emotional manipulation, and existential dread. Sensitive content is handled with care to support the story’s emotional arc — nothing is included for shock. Full warnings below.
Description
Maeve’s time is running out, but her mission is far from over. Stuck in the past for twelve years, she’s quietly preserved sacred knowledge inside a hidden magical archive, safeguarding humanity’s future in a world teetering on the edge of collapse. Now, with a failing heart and only two weeks left, Maeve must summon the last of her strength to ensure her legacy endures.
Hunted by an ancient priesthood, and concealed from the people she loves, Maeve’s final days are a race against mortality. With her partner, she works in secrecy to secure prophetic artifacts and powerful texts in vaults designed to outlive her. But when a younger version of herself arrives at the library she’s built in exile, Maeve must confront the possibility that all her sacrifices may still not be enough.
Can she balance time, love, and destiny to ensure that her daughter inherits the knowledge needed to shape the future?
Set in 1972, Turn of Earth is a slow-burn supernatural thriller—a story of devotion, hidden legacies, and the quiet power of those who safeguard knowledge in the shadows of history.
A companion story to Answered Prophecy in the Secret Lives of Librarians universe.
Genre
- Supernatural Thriller
- Occult Fantasy
- Time Travel Fiction
- Literary Speculative Fiction
Tone
- Quietly suspenseful
- Emotionally resonant
- Contemplative
- Bittersweet
- Poignant
- Spiritually profound
Tropes
- Time travel
- Quiet resistance
- Found family
- Legacy and generational duty
- Magical archivist heroine
- Sacred libraries and forbidden knowledge
- Prophetic visions
- Cosmic entanglement
- Love in the face of mortality
The most powerful legacies are the ones built in secret, for people who don’t yet know they need them.
Why You’ll Love It
Turn of Earth honors the quiet labor of those who protect, preserve, and prepare the way forward—even when no one sees them. It offers a deeply felt reflection on aging, legacy, and the unflashy but sacred work of leaving something that lasts. For readers who value inner strength over spectacle, and wisdom earned through time, this is a story that lingers.
Trigger / Sensitivity Warnings
- Loss of a parent (referenced)
- Terminal illness and mortality of main characters
- Emotional manipulation and power imbalances
- Implicit end-of-world themes and existential dread
All sensitive content supports character growth and emotional depth. Nothing is included for shock or sensationalism.
About the Author
Lorna Tedder is a non-denominational minister, volunteer grief counselor, and full-time writer after a long career in public service. She writes fiction that crosses genres — from paranormal thrillers to romantic suspense to speculative women’s fiction — and non-fiction on spirituality, manifestation, grief, and personal growth. She lives in the Florida Panhandle with her family.
More from the Witch in Time Series

Answered Prophecy
Book 1

Walk in Darkness
Companion short story