All Clear
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In Blackout, award-winning author Connie Willis returned to the time-traveling future of 2060—the setting for several of her most celebrated works—and sent three Oxford historians to World War II England: Michael Davies, intent on observing heroism during the Miracle … More »
In Blackout, award-winning author Connie Willis returned to the time-traveling future of 2060—the setting for several of her most celebrated works—and sent three Oxford historians to World War II England: Michael Davies, intent on observing heroism during the Miracle of Dunkirk; Merope Ward, studying children evacuated from London; and Polly Churchill, posing as a shopgirl in the middle of the Blitz. But when the three become unexpectedly trapped in 1940, they struggle not only to find their way home but to survive as Hitler’s bombers attempt to pummel London into submission.
Now the situation has grown even more dire. Small discrepancies in the historical record seem to indicate that one or all of them have somehow affected the past, changing the outcome of the war. The belief that the past can be observed but never altered has always been a core belief of time-travel theory—but suddenly it seems that the theory is horribly, tragically wrong.
Meanwhile, in 2060 Oxford, the historians’ supervisor, Mr. Dunworthy, and seventeen-year-old Colin Templer, who nurses a powerful crush on Polly, are engaged in a frantic and seemingly impossible struggle of their own—to find three missing needles in the haystack of history.
Told with compassion, humor, and an artistry both uplifting and devastating, All Clear is more than just the triumphant culmination of the adventure that began with Blackout. It’s Connie Willis’s most humane, heartfelt novel yet—a clear-eyed celebration of faith, love, and the quiet, ordinary acts of heroism and sacrifice too often overlooked by history.
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A follow-up to Blackout finds its time-traveling protagonists landing during the Blitz of England in World War II. By the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Nebula Award- and Hugo Award-winning author of The Doomsday Book.
Baker
& Taylor
A follow-up to
Three time-traveling historians wind up in World War II England, where they discover small discrepancies in the historical record that indicate, contrary to the beliefs of time-travel theory, that one or all of them may have affected the past and changed the outcome of the war.
When three Oxford historians become unexpectedly trapped in 1940, they struggle not only to find their way home but to survive as Hitler's bombers attempt to pummel London into submission. Meanwhile, in 2060 Oxford, the historians' supervisor and seventeen-year-old Colin Templer are engaged in a frantic and seemingly impossible struggle to find them.
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Add a QuoteYou don't want to have anything to do with me, Polly wanted to scream at them. The continuum's going to vainly keep on trying to correct itself, and next time it will get me and all of you.
No one person or thing won the war. People argue over whether it was Ultra or the evacuation from Dunkirk or Churchill's leadership or fooling Hitler into thinking we were invading at Calais that won the war, but it wasn't any one of them. It was all of them and a thousand, a million, other things and people. And not just soldiers and pilots and Wrens, but air-raid wardens and planespotters and debutantes and mathematicians and weekend sailors and vicars. . . . Canteen workers and ambulance drivers and ENSA chorus girls. And historians.
And then the good fairy said, 'The spell is already cast, and I cannot undo it, but I will do what I can.'
I wasn't looking where I was going - an apt metaphor for the entire history of time travel.
We do not rely on hope alone, though hope is our bulwark, our light through dark days and darker nights. We also work, and fight, and endure, and it does not matter whether the part we play is large or small. The reason that God marks the fall of the sparrow is that he knows that it is as important to the world as the bulldog or the wolf. We all, all must do 'our bit.' For it is through our deeds that the war will be won, through our kindness and devotion and courage that we make that better world for which we long.
All travelers are advised to take alternate routes.
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Add a CommentIs common sense not a prerequisite for historians? Why lie to friends and allies when you have a common cause? The second book does tie up the loose ends of "Blackout" but through cheap fake-outs and more dragged-out scenes where the heroes lament about their sad situation. Ugh.
A thoroughly researched, vivid description of England during its "darkest hour" in the context of an intricate plot/premise of time travel and time paradoxes. On this basis it would be well worth 5 stars. However its only a 1 star from the perspective of believable characters and editing. The protagonists are supposedly Historians trained and qualified to visit and observe the past, yet they constantly jump to unwarranted conclusions, continually imagine the worst, fail to communicate with each other in problem solving, and do so ad infinitum. Which brings me to the other failing: length. This did not require 2 large volumes - many pages are wasted with our characters going over and over their imagining the worst that could happen (without any evidence). As well, the plot could be tightened up and a number of scenes deleted. This was seriously in need of editing. Yet Willis, in her acknowledges the publishers suggestion of making it 2 volumes (maybe they just wanted the double revenue). In summary: a very worthwhile read if you're interested in England during the Blitz's and enjoy a time travel paradox. But don't expect believable characters or a tight plot line.
Couldn't put this down, as the times and characters are very interesting. It's only half of the story, though, so be sure to read Blackout as well.
Very well written and cleverly circular. I really enjoyed finishing this and look forward to reading more of her in the future.
The great conclusion to Blackout. I loved this series. I think I learned more about WWII in London during the blitz then any other book I've read! Just a neat premise of time traveling historians both trying to get home and not affect history. I do agree that the 1st half of this book was slow. Unlike Blackout, which took place in a number of settings, the first half of All Clear was mostly all 1941 Blitz in London and got a bit slow. But the 2nd half of the book, when all the pieces started falling into place moved at breakneck speed and I loved it. I'm sad this series is over because by the end I really cared about what was happening to all the major characters.
Willis continues to bore with the story begun in Blackout. A simply horrible book. Stupid mini-cliffhangers at the end of each section. Bad, bad, bad.
"No one person or one thing won the war. People argue over whether it was Ultra or the evacuation from Dunkirk or Churchill’s leadership or fooling Hitler into thinking we were invading at Calais that won the war, but it wasn’t any one of them. It was all of them and a thousand million other things and people. And not just soldiers and pilots and Wrens, but air-raid wardens and plane spotters and debutantes and mathematicians and weekends sailors and vicars… and canteen workers and ambulance drivers and ENSA chorus girls and historians... Doing their bit. No one can be in a chaotic system and not affect events.”
In a word, BORING. Blackout was engaging and interesting, this long-winded drawn out second book could have been a short chapter in the first. I don't know how this got reviewed as a tour-de-force. Will our drops open?... no, will our drops open? ... oh woe is me.
A fine sequel to Blackout. A little tedious, but it does come to a fitting conclusion. Possibly a bit underwhelming. I think the reader is a bit let down in the process, since I think the two books ought to have been edited to one long(er) book rather than two. The storytelling tends to get tedious, with the characters saying and thinking much the same thing through the two books.
There were definitely things I liked about Blackout and All Clear. The books are a tribute to all the ordinary people who kept going through World War II and did their bit for the war effort. I felt I learned a lot about the war as I followed the characters through their different storylines. The reason I'm not giving the books a higher score is that there was a point part way through the second book where I was just finding the story bleak and depressing and wanted it to be over. (I'm sure the real people in World War II felt much the same way, and they didn't have the option of simply reading for a few more days!) The hows and whys and wherefores of the time travellers' being stranded and their ability or inability to affect history were never satisfactorily resolved for me. Maybe that's another way of saying I would have liked a happier ending, even though for the most part things worked out in the end.