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In her first novel since 2002, Nebula and Hugo award-winning author Connie Willis returns with a stunning, enormously entertaining novel of time travel, war, and the deeds - great and small - of ordinary people that shape history and, alarmingly perhaps, the future. The year is 2060, the fourth decade
… More »In her first novel since 2002, Nebula and Hugo award-winning author Connie Willis returns with a stunning, enormously entertaining novel of time travel, war, and the deeds - great and small - of ordinary people that shape history and, alarmingly perhaps, the future. The year is 2060, the fourth decade since the invention of time travel by a scientist who would not have been born had Hitler won World War II. At Oxford University, historians jockey for plum assignments, to carry out first-person research in the era of their specialty, from the Crusades to the Plague or the aftermath of the devastating nuclear attack on London. In the face of increasing scientific criticism of time travel - and the possibility that it could shatter the space-time continuum - three academics are in the heart of World War II in England. Merope is a maid in a country house studying evacuated children in England in 1940. Mike is researching a common thread of heroism across history and is on his way to Dunkirk. Polly lives as a shopgirl during the Blitz, watching the behaviour of ordinary citizens under stress. For all three, unknown corners of history explode as Hitler's bombs rain down on London. But when they try to return they find themselves unable to make their way back to the future. Have they broken the law of time travel and changed the narrative of history in some accidental way? A dreadful awareness comes over them all: far from witnessing the past, they may be on a journey into the utterly unknown. And the world they left in 2060 may no longer be there to save them.
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Historians can't change history, Mike told himself, clenching his chattering teeth, waiting for the aspirin to take effect.
Open for business. And we do mean open. - SIGN IN BLOWN-OUT WINDOW OF A LONDON DEPARTMENT STORE
Any one of us could be killed tonight, or next week, and if that's the case, then why not go out dancing and all the rest of it? Have a bit of fun? It would be better than never having lived at all.
The steps were perilously steep and one was broken, and the beams in the low-ceilinged cellar looked as if they might give way at the mere sound of a bomb, let alone a direct hit.
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Add a CommentI was so glad to have gotten to the end of the book, wondering how she would wrap it all up in the few remaining pages.... only to find out that it was a "to be continued". Great disappointment gave way to a sense of relief that I really didn't need to read the followup in "All Clear"
It's essentially retread of all the previous time-travel stories and since it's part one of two, the story ends very abruptly. The various characters take an unnecessarily loooooooong time coming to a very obvious conclusion and I swear the time traveling laws get fuzzier and fuzzier with each book. Fingers crossed the second book makes up for this mishmash of a set-up.
Apparently written for children. The characters, vocabulary, and level of dialog all suggest that this is a book aimed at pre- and early teens. Don't waste your time.
The author should be ashamed of herself for such a half-hearted effort. The plot is full of problems, and it all goes nowhere. The end of the book leaves nothing resolved, and just stops abruptly with a "To Be Continued in bla bla..." I certainly won't be bothered to check out the next book.
Easily one of the worst Hugo award winners. Annoying characters in repetitious, annoying situations. By mid-book I was rooting for the bombs.
Willis starts with her well established time travel universe in an intriguing historical recollection of World War II. However, after the setup this book starts becoming predictable, boring and repetitive. The fact that this book is one of two parts hurts my brain.
Very addicting! Great read, and excited to read the continuation.
One of the most interesting books I've read in a long time. This one has many of the themes I love in a novel. It is part science fiction (time travel / alternate history), part WW II drama with really interesting information about what Britain was like during the blitz in WW II. The plot moves forward quickly and the cast of characters is generally kept to a minimum so you get into each of the main 3 plot lines. The characters could be a bit more complex but that is minor. I can't wait to read the sequel.
love Connie Willis - this does not disappoint (unless you didn't know it was the first of 2)
I loved the book. However, I was so angry that it was "To be continued" that I threw it at a wall. The publisher should really say on the cover that one has to read a second book for the conclusion. It would prevent other's, like myself, being caught off guard and disappointed/angry. Other than that, it was entertaining and I adored seeing WWII through the eyes of someone who knows the outcome. Now if I can just find the sequel...