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In an early nineteenth-century England in which there never was a Restoration after Cromwell's Revolution, a party of guests travels to a house-party in Yorkshire to witness the demonstration of the world's first time machine. Michael Laurel, a young painter, is in love with Cecilia Langstrade, and is avid to know whether his feelings are reciprocated-but as he travels to his appointment with destiny, he realizes that he might have a rival in Quentin Hope, an amateur philosopher. Gradually, Michael comes to realize that the entire future of the world might be at stake-and its entire past as well-and that no one who has been invited to Langstrade Hall is irrelevant to the impending catastrophe. But what can he, a mere painter, possibly do to make a difference to the fate of the universe within the labyrinth of time?

Published by The Borgo Press, August 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4344-5725-7

Review by Sally Startup

This novel is mazy, which is appropriate, since its finale takes place in a maze. The central character is Michael Laurel, a young artist, who is in love. It is 1822, but the history known to the characters does not quite tally with our own. Michael is attending a house party at a country house in Yorkshire. The host is the father of Cecilia, with whom Michael is in love. The other guests include a violinist, a mesmerist and the inventor of a time machine.

As the house party gets underway, the various characters discuss time travel at length. None of them seem to completely understand how it could work, but several of them pretend they do. I don't understand it either, but I doubt that it matters. I understood the characters, sensed their feelings and motivations, and enjoyed the interplay between them. And the book not only made me think, but allowed me to enjoy the process.

There is gentle humour, and there is a lot of thoughtful speculation about the implications of some scientific and pseudoscientific theories. There is clever wordplay, and the plot has a playful feel, as well. However, everything is integrated, nothing is superfluous. Michael, although he becomes wiser by the end, is quite believably a young man in love for the first time. His actions, motivated by love and decency, are also credible, making this a properly enjoyable tale.

The Brian Stableford Website