Book about man reliving his life over and over, under alien control

Question

In the late 1970s, I read a book about a man who is allowed to relive his life over and over.

It starts with him and his (female) cousin in his parent's apartment in New York - he is perhaps 14, but he has the memories of his future life. I think that he dies at 40 or so, and comes back to his 14-year-old self. This cycle repeats a number of times. The process is controlled and overseen by alien beings.

I think that the book was published in the Gollancz SF series, although I may be wrong about that. Any chance this rings bells with someone?

Answer 1

Replay by Ken Grimwood, published in 1986.

At forty-three Jeff Winston is tired of his low-paid, unrewarding job, tired of the long silences at the breakfast table with his wife, saddened by the thought of no children to comfort his old age. But he hopes for better things, for happiness, maybe tomorrow …

But a sudden, fatal heart attack puts paid to that. Until Jeff wakes up in his eighteen-year-old body, all his memories of the next twenty-five years intact. If he applies those memories, he can be rich in this new chance at life and can become one of the most powerful men in America.

Until he dies at forty-three and wakes up in his eighteen-year-old body again … and again in a continuous twenty-five year cycle each time starting from scratch at the age of eighteen to reclaim lost loves, make a fortune – or remedy past mistakes.

A novel of gripping adventure, romance, and fascinating speculation on the nature of time, Replay asks the question: “What if you could live your life over again?”