Blackout/All Clear is a Hugo award winning novel in two
parts written by Connie Willis and published by Bantam Spetra. The story
focuses on Willis’ time travelling Oxford historians who were featured in her
previous works: Fire Watch (link to the short story), Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing ofthe Dog. In Blackout/All Clear, historians are travelling back to England in
World War II to observe life during that chaotic, dangerous and heroic time and
become unable to return to their original time. The novel tracks their efforts
to blend into 1940s society, find a way home and keep themselves alive.
The novel is structured in a way that the reader is taken
back and forth in time to the various parts of the narrative. This includes
going from 1941 London blitz to 1943, 1945 and V-E day as well as to the “present”
of 2060. As many of the characters have assumed identities to blend into the
1940s, the reader is left to figure out who some of the characters are and
often, due to time travel, characters are in the same place but at different
time points in their own narratives and thus don’t recognize or miss each
other. I found this part of the novel to be great and provided a bit of mystery
to unravel as you followed the struggle of the characters to get home before
they are killed. Having read Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, I
liked having some of the same characters back again. Two of my favorites are Professor
Dunworthy, the chair of the History department in future Oxford and Colin
Templer, who while too young for Oxford has a way of getting into the past to
save the day. Both characters had important roles in Doomsday Book.
I did wait to buy All Clear, so it was about a year between
reading Blackout and the second half of the novel. I think this lowered some of
my enjoyment of the book as it took me a little while to get back into the time
period and remember who the characters were. I would recommend reading both
parts of the novel back-to-back as the author obviously intended.
The story in Blackout/All Clear is rich in details about
World War II London and if that period is at all of interest to you, you should
go read this story. If you like time travel and all the mind-bending
possibilities that come with it, then you should read this book. I think this
one is on the border between 4 and 5 Mick Happies and if I had read it
back-to-back it would probably get a 5. In the end, Blackout/All Clear is a
great time travel story and I give it 4 Mick Happies. Now where is my time
travel machine?
