Blackout

Connie Willis

Feb 2010 · Oxford Time Travel Book 1 · Sold by Spectra

About this ebook

Oxford in 2060 is a chaotic place, with scores of time-traveling historians being sent into the past. 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 into letting her go to VE-Day. Polly Churchill’s next assignment will be as a shopgirl in the middle of London’s Blitz. But now the time-travel lab is suddenly canceling assignments 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, and dive-bombing Stukas—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.

Ratings and reviews

This is literally the only bad book to be graced with both the Hugo and nebula awards. I don't know what the committees saw in it. The only good characters are the hodbin children. Time travel has never been so boring or unimportant.

For Russian audience the price should be 8 times less than for US. Then you'll have at least something sold and you will have at least something than nothing. Because average wages are 8 times less in Russia than in the US. Good advice from good reader.

Fabulous. Along with All Clear, the second in the series, the story is intricate and fascinating. Great time-travel theme with interesting historical background. I was completely pulled in, worrying about what would happen, and amazed at how well-woven the subplots were integrated into the whole. It was kind of like how I imagine reading Les Miserables would be if time travel were added as a cool twist. :)

About the author

Connie Willis, who was recently inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, has received six Nebula Awards and ten Hugo Awards for her fiction; her previous novel, Passage, was nominated for both. Her other works include Doomsday Book, Lincoln’s Dreams, Bellwether, Impossible Things, Remake, Uncharted Territory, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Fire Watch, and Miracle and Other Christmas Stories. Connie Willis lives in Colorado with her family.