“There are many, many things I’d change,” says Mitch Albom, discussing the notion of doing things over again.

That’s the premise of his new novel Twice, where the protagonist, Alfie, has the ability to jump back in time and, with the benefit of hindsight, to do things differently.

The gift is discovered at eight years of age when his mother dies suddenly. The sorrow and guilt this unleashes triggers a latent ability to revisit past actions and to choose a different course.

Alfie does so numerous times during the book, undoing perceived mistakes but inevitably encountering unforeseen consequences, particularly in relation to love.

So what would Albom do with the same power?

“I’d think about changing many, many things,” the author and philanthropist replies, speaking from his home in Detroit.

“Sometimes people are surprised to hear me say that, because, for some reason, they think that if you’ve written inspirational books in the past, that somehow everything is great in your life. That you’ve planned it all.

“And that’s totally not true. I could probably rattle off 20 things I would change right now. But – and that’s the big but – if you said to me you have to unlearn what you learned from your mistakes, then my answer would be no.

“Because every mistake that I’ve made, everything that I would go back and change has in some way influenced the decisions I made afterwards.”