It is not essential to have read the previous books since they stand alone really well but unlike their predecessors, Blackout and All Clear mention previous events in the series and even at some point rely on and intersect with those storylines plus two of the main characters from Doomsday Book, Dr. The series started in 1984 with the novella Fire Watch 1 and was followed by Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog. They are part of an ongoing series of standalone novels that involve time travelling historians who travel back from Oxford University of the mid 21st century to several points in time to observe History as it happens. Note: This is a spoiler-free overview of the two books.īlackout and All Clear are a two-volume novel published a few months apart in 2010. Why did I read this book: Because I have become a HUGE Connie Willis’ fangirl. How did I get this book: Bought both books. Stand alone or series: Part of an ongoing series of standalone novels that feature time travelling Historians. 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.įrom 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 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. And when Michael, Merope, and Polly finally get to World War II, things just get worse. 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.īut now the time-travel lab is suddenly canceling assignments for no apparent reason and switching around everyone’s schedules. Polly Churchill’s next assignment will be as a shopgirl in the middle of London’s Blitz. Dunworthy, into letting her go to VE Day.
Merope Ward is coping with a bunch of bratty 1940 evacuees and trying to talk her thesis adviser, Mr.
Michael Davies is prepping to go to Pearl Harbor. 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.
Publication date: February / October 2010
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