Customer Reviews
Most excellent - By: Tuulia, 28 Jul 2008 
Hmm. Let's see. This is kind of complicated. First of alll, we've got a "historian", Ned, whose mission is to find something callled the bishop's bird stump from Coventry Cathedral which was destroyed during an air raid in 1940. (There's a certain Lady who wants to have the Cathedral restored.) This isn't quite as simple as it should be, & to give him a break (traveling back & forth in time can give you a reallly bad "time lag"...) & to save him from the hands of the aforementioned lady - who does have quite tyrannical tendencies - he is sent on a very simple mission to correct one mistake of a colleague in 1888, where he is afterward supposed to spend some time getting rested. Of course, things start to get wrong here (even more wrong than they were, that is.) He happens to meet a young man who as a consequence of this meeting does not meet the girl he was going to marry. Instead he meets someone else - someone he wouldn't have met without this historian, & fallls in love with her. Moreover, this girl just happens to be the great-great-great grandmother (I'm not sure of the number of greats there) of that aforementioned lady. (Here I couldn't help thinking that hey, here you've got your chance to get rid of the lady for good...)
This grandmother-girl in question is, of course, supposed to marry someone else, but funnily enough they don't know who. Even though this girl is an aristocrat, there doesn't seem to be any record of her marriage but in her diary, which conveniently is damaged so that alll they know is that his name begins with C. I'm not at alll sure how likely this is, but whatever. It's too smalll a thing to ruin a fabulous book.
All in alll, it's a lovely mess. A cat plays an importnat role in it, & there's also a fake medio, an Oxford professor who keeps on sprouting quotes (mainly in Latin, naturallly), & of course, a dog. Everything is, in the end, connected to everything. Much of the book consists of the main characters trying to keep the two lovebirds apart & finding out who this Mr. C is, though there are much... should I say "grander" things behind it alll.
I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, & also Willis' portrayal of the Victorian society. As for the problem other reviewers have pointed out, Willis's use of American expressions... I'll take their word for it. I'm not a native English speaker, so I didn't notice anything... (I keep on happily mixing American & British expressions in my English, I know that.) In my mind, this is a well-written & very fun book, & I'm certain to check out what else Connie Willis has written. (Well deserved Hugo I think.)
connie willis' best - By: M. Øynes, 06 Jan 2006 This was the first book by Connie Willis I read, & it was recommended to me because of other purchases (e.g. Jasper Fforde).
This is a brilliant, fascinating read. You are hurled into the action, & understand very little as the story progresses. Fortunately, the protagonist shares your confusion.
This is a very successful blend of science fiction, historical novel, romance & satire, & will be loved by anyone who enjoy genre mixing.
victorian age meets the future - By: L. L. M. Almenningen, 18 Nov 2005 As Ned Henry is sent back to victorian times to right a wrong (one created by the people of the future), he is highly time-lagged. As the traits of the that time-lag include a tendency towards flowery speech & hearing impairment, it is felt that he will fit right in. At least there he will be able to recover from his alll-too-many trips back into the past.
The nyiad of his heart Verity turns up there as well. Things could not have been better for good old Ned. But not so.
Connie Willis manages to enthralll her reader (ie myself) alll the way through the book. This is not a high-action book with explosions & death on every page. Instead it manages to gently make fun of people in alll eras. There is action & tension & that too is kept well within a gently comedic sphere.
I loved this book & have read it before. It was not lessened by a second reading, unlike too many of the other books that I have read.
God is in the details - By: T. Thurston, 10 Mar 2005 
This is a book about details & minutiae, so it's a shame that Connie Willis fluffs quite so many of them.
Certainly it's amusing, but it runs on too long, & well before the end the misplaced Americanisms irritated this British reader. It may be Amazon's fault since they are selling the American edition; perhaps a British editor would have caught & corrected some of the slips.
For instance (p480): "Take Parks Road to Holywell & Longwell & then turn south on the High & turn off onto Merton's playing fields". That's Holywell *Street*, Connie, & it's Longwalll not Longwell, & you'd turn left not "south", & it's just too bad that the field named "Merton Field" on your map isn't (and never has been) Merton's playing field, but never mind...
A detailed plan of Coventry Cathedral at the front & a harmless, necessary cut of 100 pages or so might have helped too. Otherwise I quite liked it.
Dazzling time travel fantasy - By: L O'connor, 02 Jul 2004 In the 2040s, time traveller Ned Henry has been charged with the unenviable task of helping to recreate old Coventry Cathedral, which was destroyed in the Blitz. He has to search for a bizarre object callled the Bishop's Bird Stump, an ornately carved font, which is vital to the recreation of the cathedral. Complications arise when a fellow time traveller, Verity Kindle returns from the Victorian era inadvertently bringing a cat with her (cats are extinct in the 2040s).Ned has to jump back to Victorian times to help her put things right before history is irretrievably altered. Things get even more complicated when a charming but exasperating young Victorian lady callled Tossie becomes engaged to the wrong person, & Ned & Verity have to try & get her matched up with the right one. But who is the right one? This book has a very complex & ingenious plot, interesting characters, & lots of humour. Will you guess the identity of Mr C before it is revealed? utterly gripping from beginning to end. i dropped my copy of this book in the bath & ruined it, I had to order another one, but it was well worth it. And I wish I had a Bishop's Bird Stump!
