As a narrative structure, multiple timelines allow an author to tell several stories that span a large chunk of time. Instead of telling the story chronologically, however, as an epic or saga might do, the multiple timeline structure sets different stories side by side, moving backwards and forwards in time. Typically, the device requires an anchoring moment or timeline. In the case of The Clockmaker’s Daughter, this anchoring perspective comes from Birdie, who exists in the present moment but is able to look back on the stories that came before.

The multiple timelines allow an author to develop and amplify certain themes and symbols by creating symmetries of event and character. In this novel, for example, many characters carry different burdens of grief. The multiple timelines also allow an author to create suspense and mystery around events discussed in multiple time periods, for example the fate of the Radcliffe Blue.

Moreover, the multiple timelines let the author separate a question and answer in the novel that creates the denouement. For example, in The Clockmaker’s Daughter, Elodie learns that the art world has long been occupied with what happened to Edward Radcliffe’s missing masterpiece.