In the middle of the 21st century, historian Ned Henry has a severe case of “time-lag.” Exhausted from fruitless time-travel jumps to Coventry Cathedral in various times before the WWII bombing and fire, Ned has not been able to satisfy his boss, and find the hideous but elusive “Bishop’s bird stump.”
Lady Shrapnel is on a mission to have every detail perfect for the Cathedral reconstruction and dedication, and she doesn’t seem to care whatsoever how exhausted her team is, just so long as they finish the cathedral in time. “God is in the details,” she retorts when anyone suggests anything less than a perfect restoration.
This hilarious and delightful story is shelved in “science-fiction” because of the time travel aspect, but in every other way is a romantic comedy in the style of The Importance of Being Earnest or anything from Jeeves and Wooster. And, in case that wasn’t enough fun, Connie Willis also has her main characters constantly referencing and quoting mystery authors like Agatha Christie, G. K. Chesterton, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
In the mid-21st century, scientists have discovered time travel. The trouble is, Time is something of a sentient being, and it is able to protect itself. No one traveling to the past can change the past, nor can they change the present by bringing things back with them. For example, a traveler cannot go back and shoot Hitler. Nor can they steal artifacts or valuable items and bring them into the future. Therefore, the only people who really benefit from time travel are historians.
This book is part of a collection of “Oxford Time Travel” books by Connie Willis. Doomsday and this book, To Say Nothing of the Dog, are stand-alone books. Mr. Dunworthy is in each, but the plots are not connected, and I don’t think any other characters connect. Blackout and All Clear are really one story in two volumes and should be read together, Blackout being read before All Clear no matter what. There are overlapping characters between Doomsday and Black Out – All Clear, but it doesn’t matter very much which you read first.
Doomsday is a serious book about the Black Death. Despite being very well-written, it is sad, stressful, and gross, just as anything about the Bubonic Plague is likely to be. Black Out – All Clear is one of the best WWII stories I have ever read. It is powerful, inspiring, exciting, and historically well-researched. Our good friend, Sherry Early, has a great review of Black Out – All Clear on her site.
To Say Nothing of the Dog is pure delight. Connie Willis’s writing is elegant and refined. But it is also deeply informed by theatre and movies. And so what we have is a very witty, entertaining, and creative story that whisks the reader out of reality and into a delightful comedic drama that could only be set in the Victorian English Countryside. Equal parts ridiculous and brilliant, I have enjoyed reading again and again over the years.
Parents may wish to know that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes) was a “spiritualist.” He seemed to genuinely believe in fairies and seances and fortune tellers. He was not alone. A good number of people of his time dabbled in this. Some just enjoyed it as a parlor game, and others committed themselves to it more formally. In To Say Nothing of the Dog, one of the characters is a true believer in spiritualism. But, because this is a comedy, her beliefs are proven to be ridiculous again and again throughout the story. Time travelers Ned and Verity know how crazy that belief is, and they use it to their advantage while trying to solve a mystery and facilitate a courtship between two characters. Verity hides noise makers in her skirt and Ned uses strings to pull the table during a seance. The entire scene is unmasked for the nonsense that it is. Nonetheless, some parents may wish to know that it is there.
The story is clean, written with beautiful language, and peppered with literary references that would send a curious reader on all kinds of delightful rabbit trails. This story would be really fun to do as a teen book club or as a mom’s book club. The audio is marvelous! I look forward to reading it many times more in the future!
Here is a link to this book on Biblioguides