Crossing in Time

After reconnecting with the one-that-got-away—and then losing him in a pandemic—middle-aged Iz struggles to survive in a remote mountain cabin. As loneliness and despair set in, she finds hope in caring for abandoned pets—until a man appears and offers her a one-way trip to the past.
With humanity teetering on the edge, she gives up everything in an attempt to alter the dystopian present—and see her missing lover once more.
As time runs out, she's whisked into a coffin-like machine set to plunge deep into her past. (A neural net insists she is humankind's best hope. No one knows why.) They neglect to mention the time machine has been activated once before—with deadly results.
Miraculously, she awakens on a pristine beach—buck naked and suffering radiation-like side-effects—but 20 years younger! With only hours to live, she must persuade a young man to modify their future relationship and thereby set off a chain of events that will prevent the pandemic.
Our young hero falls hard for her (what guy could resist a smart, middle-aged woman in a newly acquired vixen's body?) until she blurts out that she's from the future and here to "fix" him.

• Literary Fiction