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Summary
Summary
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 who shape history. In the hands of this acclaimed storyteller, the past and future collide--and the result is at once intriguing, elusive, and frightening.
Oxford in 2060 is a chaotic place. Scores of time-traveling historians are being sent into the past, to destinations including the American Civil War and the attack on the World Trade Center. Michael Davies is prepping to go to Pearl Harbor. Merope Ward is coping with a bunch of bratty 1940 evacuees and trying to talk her thesis adviser, Mr. Dunworthy, into letting her go to VE Day. Polly Churchill's next assignment will be as a shopgirl in the middle of London's Blitz. And seventeen-year-old Colin Templer, who has a major crush on Polly, is determined to go to the Crusades so that he can "catch up" to her in age.
But now the time-travel lab is suddenly canceling assignments for no apparent reason and switching around everyone's schedules. And when Michael, Merope, and Polly finally get to World War II, things just get worse. For there they face air raids, blackouts, unexploded bombs, dive-bombing Stukas, rationing, shrapnel, V-1s, and two of the most incorrigible children in all of history--to say nothing of a growing feeling that not only their assignments but the war and history itself are spiraling out of control. Because suddenly the once-reliable mechanisms of time travel are showing significant glitches, and our heroes are beginning to question their most firmly held belief: that no historian can possibly change the past.
From the people sheltering in the tube stations of London to the retired sailors who set off across the Channel to rescue the stranded British Army from Dunkirk, from shopgirls to ambulance drivers, from spies to hospital nurses to Shakespearean actors, Blackout reveals a side of World War II seldom seen before: a dangerous, desperate world in which there are no civilians and in which everybody--from the Queen down to the lowliest barmaid--is determined to do their bit to help a beleaguered nation survive.
Author Notes
Connie Willis lives in Greeley, Colorado, with her family.
(Publisher Provided)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
With her trademark understated, eloquent style, Willis expands the conceit of her Hugo and Nebula winning 1982 story "Fire Watch" into a page-turning thriller, her first novel since 2001's Passage. Three young historians travel from 2060 to early 1940s Britain for firsthand research. As Eileen handles a measles outbreak during the children's evacuation and Polly struggles to work as a London shopgirl, hints of trouble with the time-travel equipment barely register on their radar. Historians aren't supposed to be able to change the course of history, but Mike's actions at Dunkirk may disrupt both the past and the future. Willis uses detail and period language exquisitely well, creating an engaging, exciting tale that cuts off abruptly on the last page. Readers allergic to cliffhangers may want to wait until the second volume comes out in November 2010. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The British home front during World War II is the focus of Willis' third time-travel tale, which follows, in alternating narratives, the experiences of three researchers from 2060 Oxford. Eileen is studying the effects of evacuation on London's children by serving as a maid at a country manor, where she encounters some really bratty children and is quarantined because of a measles outbreak. Polly finds work as a London shop girl to observe how people behave while sheltering from the Blitz in basements and tube stations; she barely escapes a bomb herself. Mike, masquerading as an American reporter, watches the small boats evacuating the British army from Dunkirk but is dropped miles away from his destination of Dover and ends up at Dunkirk a divergence point that could alter events. All three experience some slippage in passing through time and discover that their ways back to the twenty-first century don't open. Each struggles to find the other two, for together they may figure out a solution. On par with Doomsday Book (1992), Blackout depicts the times and the spirit of the British people remarkably vividly, and bits of comic relief leaven any somberness. Characterizations of the historians and the Brits they become close to are multifaceted and believable, and the ending leaves us keenly primed for the sequel, scheduled for November 2010 publication.--Estes, Sally Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Three history researchers, all time travelers from the future, find themselves trapped in England during World War II when they discover that the portals to their own times have disappeared. Setting her first novel since 1991's Passage in the same near-future as The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, the award-winning author brings an intimacy to her narrative that increases the tension of her characters. VERDICT Willis is a consummate storyteller whose immersive style hooks readers from the start; her latest work, which is being published in two parts (the second volume is scheduled for November), should appeal to a wide readership and be a particular draw for her devoted followers. [Also available as an ebook, ISBN 978-0-345-51964-1.] (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Come then: Let us to the task, to the battle, to the toil--each to our part, each to our station, there is not a week, nor a day, nor an hour to lose. --winston churchill 1940 Oxford--April 2060 Colin tried the door, but it was locked. The porter, Mr. Purdy, obviously hadn't known what he was talking about when he'd said Mr. Dunworthy had gone to Research. Blast it. I should have known he wasn't here, Colin thought. Only historians prepping for assignments came to Research. Perhaps Mr. Dunworthy'd told Mr. Purdy he was going to do research, in which case he'd be in the Bodleian Library. Colin went over to the Bodleian, but Mr. Dunworthy wasn't there either. I'll have to go ask his secretary, Colin thought, loping back to Balliol. He wished Finch was still Mr. Dunworthy's secretary instead of this new person Eddritch, who would probably ask a lot of questions. Finch wouldn't have asked any, and he'd have not only told him where Mr. Dunworthy was, but what sort of mood he was in. Colin ran up to Mr. Dunworthy's rooms first, on the off chance Mr. Purdy hadn't seen Mr. Dunworthy come back in, but he wasn't there either. Then he ran across to Beard, up the stairs, and into the outer office. "I need to see Mr. Dunworthy," he said. "It's important. Can you tell me where--?" Eddritch looked at him coldly. "Did you have an appointment, Mr.--?" "Templer," Colin said. "No, I--" "Are you an undergraduate here at Balliol?" Colin debated saying yes, but Eddritch was the sort who would check to see if he was. "No, I will be next year." "If you're applying to be a student at Oxford, you need the Provost's Office in Longwall Street." "I'm not applying to be a student. I'm a friend of Mr. Dunworthy's--" "Oh, Mr. Dunworthy has told me about you." He frowned. "I thought you were at Eton." "We're on holiday," Colin lied. "It's vital that I see Mr. Dunworthy. If you could tell me where he--" "What did you wish to see him about?" My future, Colin thought. And it's none of your business, but that obviously wouldn't get him anywhere. "It's in regard to an historical assignment. It's urgent. If you could just tell me where he is, I--" he began, but Eddritch had already opened the appointment book. "Mr. Dunworthy can't see you until the end of next week." Which will be too late. Blast, I need to see him now, before Polly comes back. "I can give you an appointment at one o'clock on the nineteenth," Eddritch was saying. "Or at half past nine on the twenty-eighth." What part of the word "urgent" do you not understand? Colin thought. "Never mind," he said and went back downstairs and out to the gate to see if he could get any more information out of Mr. Purdy. "Are you certain Research was where he said he was going?" he asked the porter, and when he said yes, "Did he say where he was going after that?" "No. You might try the lab. He's been spending a good deal of time there these past few days. Or if he's not there, Mr. Chaudhuri may know where he is." And if he's not there I can ask Badri when Polly's scheduled to come back. "I'll try the lab," Colin said, debating whether to ask him to tell Mr. Dunworthy he was looking for him if he returned. No, better not. Forewarned was forearmed. He'd have a better chance if he sprang it on him suddenly. "Thanks," he said and ran down to the Hi Excerpted from Blackout by Connie Willis All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.