All Clear: A Novel (Oxford Time Travel) - Softcover

Willis, Connie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553592882 ISBN 13: 9780553592887

Publisher: Spectra, 2011

Synopsis

Winner of the Nebula Award

Traveling back in time, from Oxford circa 2060 into the thick of World War II, was a routine excursion for three British historians eager to study firsthand the heroism and horrors of the Dunkirk evacuation and the London Blitz. But getting marooned in war-torn 1940 England has turned Michael Davies, Merope Ward, and Polly Churchill from temporal tourists into besieged citizens struggling to survive Hitler’s devastating onslaught. And now there’s more to worry about than just getting back home: The impossibility of altering past events has always been a core belief of time-travel theory—but it may be tragically wrong. When discrepancies in the historical record begin cropping up, it suggests that one or all of the future visitors have somehow changed the past—and, ultimately, the outcome of the war. Meanwhile, in 2060 Oxford, the stranded historians’ supervisor, Mr. Dunworthy, frantically confronts the seemingly impossible task of rescuing his students—three missing needles in the haystack of history. The thrilling time-tripping adventure that began with Blackout now hurtles to its stunning resolution in All Clear.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

All Clear is the magisterial conclusion to Connie Willis's epic, two-volume account of love, war, and time travel. Like its predecessor, Blackout, it is both a brilliantly constructed work of science fiction and a masterful recreation of a pivotal moment in 20th century history.The story begins in the immediate aftermath of Blackout. Three time-traveling scholars, each investigating a different aspect of World War II, are stranded together in London during the height of the Blitz. Their increasingly desperate attempts to return “home” to the year 2060 form the core of a narrative that ranges freely, and with great authority, across time and space, from the evacuation of Dunkirk to the ultimate triumph of V-E Day—and beyond.The result is a work of great ingenuity and bottomless humanity that uses chaos theory, meticulous research, and a dizzying array of temporal paradoxes to reconstruct a vanished era, illuminating that era through the varied perspectives of the soldiers, sailors, shop girls, and ambulance drivers who struggled through it. Together, Blackout and All Clear constitute a seamless, deeply moving masterpiece that will be read—and remembered—for many years to come.

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 novel Passage was nominated for both. Her other works include Blackout, 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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Spectra
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0553592882
• ISBN 13: 9780553592887
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 656