The Gap of Time: The Winter's Tale Retold

The Gap of Time (2015), a novel by Jeanette Winterson, retells the story of Shakespeare’s play A Winter’s Tale in a contemporary setting. A multi-award winning writer, Winterson’s honors include the 1987 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the 1992 BAFTA Award for Best Drama, the 1994 Lambda Literary Award, and the 2014 St. Louis Literary Award. In 2016, she was chosen as one of the BBC’s 100 Women and also elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

The Gap of Time begins outside a hospital with a BabyHatch drop-off for unwanted infants. Shep, a single father, is driving by the BabyHatch when he sees two men beating a third. He chases the men off, but the man they were attacking is already dead. Noticing a child in the BabyHatch along with a locked attaché case, Shep takes both with him. Shep has been a single father since the death of his wife. His son, Clo, urges him to return the baby, but Shep cannot bring himself to do it. Shep and Clo open the attaché case and find it full of money and jewels. Shep uses the money to buy a bar. As the baby, Perdita, grows up, she realizes that she must have been adopted even though her father and brother never talk about it.

The narrative then switches to the point of view of Leo, a wealthy businessman. Leo believes that his wife Mimi is cheating on him with his best friend, Xeno, and that Mimi is pregnant with Xeno’s child. He wants to get proof of her affair so that he can divorce her. Xeno is staying with Leo while he creates a video game called The Gap of Time. Leo has noticed that Mimi has become very close to Xeno and urges him to stay longer at their house. Leo agrees because he is plagued by guilt about an accident some years ago in which he almost killed Xeno.



Leo has his head of security Cameron install security cameras so he can spy on Mimi and Xeno. The system is not perfect so he is forced to imagine much of what is happening on the security feed. Mimi and Xeno discuss poetry and love; eventually, Xeno realizes he has feelings for Mimi. Mimi, a successful singer, has found new inspiration in her feelings for Xeno.

Finally, Leo confronts Mimi with his suspicions. Though Mimi denies the affair, this only serves to make Leo more suspicious. While they are fighting, Mimi goes into labor and gives birth to a daughter. While she is recovering, Leo explains his suspicions to Cameron, but Cameron sides with Mimi, telling Leo that she should divorce him.

Mimi separates herself from Leo after the baby is born. One day, while everyone is out of the house, Leo takes the baby, devising a plan to take her out of the country. He gives baby Perdita to his gardener, Tony, to smuggle across the border, but Tony is intercepted by two carjackers who beat him to death. They are interrupted by Shep, who finds baby Perdita and takes her with him.



Back in the present, Shep raises Perdita to adulthood, though he never tells her the strange circumstances surrounding how he came to adopt her. Perdita joins a band called the Separations and begins a relationship with Xeno’s estranged son, Zel.

Shep has his birthday party at the bar he owns. Perdita and Zel are both in attendance; Xeno arrives coincidentally as a customer. He talks with Perdita, telling her that he is looking for someone named Leo. He brings up the strange circumstances surrounding Tony’s death. Shep tries to stop him but is felled by a stroke that puts him in the hospital. He finally confesses to Perdita that he stole her from the BabyHatch and never looked for her surviving family members.

Perdita tells Zel that she is worried they are brother and sister. They find Xeno, who is in self-imposed exile, thinking that Leo blames him for the loss of Perdita; Xeno assures Perdita that she is not his daughter. He tells Perdita where she can find Leo, and she and Zel go to London to meet him. Perdita introduces herself as Miranda, and Leo offers her band a spot in the charity concert he is organizing. Perdita learns that Leo’s business is closing a deal that will lead to Shep’s bar being destroyed.



Shep and Xeno go to Leo to try to save the bar. When Shep introduces himself and explains that he has raised Leo’s daughter, Leo is relieved to see that he is a kind and caring father. The story ends happily, with Shep’s business saved, the families reunited, and Perdita and Zel in love.