What We're Reading: Cathy

All Clear by Connie Willis.

This is the last in Willis' time travel series. Oxford historians Michael Davies, Merope Ward, and Polly Churchill realize that something has gone wrong with the time travel mechanism and they are stuck in 1940 at least for the time being. Each of them worries whether something they did has altered time and maybe even lost the war for Britain. They struggle through the Blitz and the aftermath of Dunkirk, taking nightly shelter in Underground stations or church basements. Each of them struggles with things like ration coupons, clothing, housing, and fuel shortages, bombing raids, and making some kind of living just like the rest of the population. This is a marvelous look at what living through the war in England must have been like. (I hadn't realized that St. Paul's was damaged in the Blitz until I read this.) Alf and Binnie show up again causing chaos as usual. Back in 2060 Oxford, Mr. Dunworthy and Colin are desperately trying to figure out what's gone wrong and to get the historians back. If you haven't read "Blackout" yet, read it first. This one picks up right where "Blackout" leaves off. And if you haven't read the others in the series ("Doomsday" and "To Say Nothing About the Dog") - do it.