In the City of Time

G. 9 Up–While on a test run of her radio equipment, Willa Marconi, from Italy in 1891, has just been plunged into a strange new world. In front of her stands a young woman, white and European like herself, and a young man, who appears Arab or Indian, who look at her in horror. From their perspective, Riley and Jaideep see a huge mistake. They’ve just thrust a local from her time period into the space they hoped would help them discover information they need to save their world from the disaster it is in 2033. Now that they’re together, they must discover a way to stop the cataclysm that sparked the end of the known world. Their search for answers involves encounters with time loops, time-traveling androids, and others who will stop at nothing to keep things the way they are. This fast-action, complex story plunges readers into a world where Riley and Jaideep want nothing more than to stop the event that caused the disaster that led to the deaths of Jaideep’s entire family, while Willa tries to make sense of it all using the science and logic she has always relied on. Give this book to mature science fiction readers, as lots of scientific jargon and principles are not explained. While science predominates, the young protagonists fall for each other in an arc that includes references to polyamory, sexuality, and gender exploration.