"A fast-paced story steeped in a quasi-Victorian atmosphere...is a highly recommended read for sci-fi enthusiasts who like their alternate histories firmly rooted in conundrums that change hearts, minds, and societies alike." - The Midwest Book Review
http: //www.midwestbookreview.com/calbw/may_22.htm#historicalfiction
The powerful nation-state of Vinland dominates North America. Founded by Vikings in the 900s, conquered by Britain in the 1700s, it is now a "Crown Dominion," with its own king and queen. Vinland represses the native "Skrellings" they are servants and workers, and suffer many legal restrictions.
Young Thorvald Winchester programs the enormous Lundqvist and Chesterfield Analytical Engine, and courts his old history professor's daughter, Jenny Nilsson. Unknown to Jenny, Thorvald has been an atheist since he was thirteen, when a train wreck killed his parents and Jenny's mother. Atheist, science-minded Thorvald and pious Jenny seem polar opposites, but both are creatures of their time and place, used to gas lamps, horse carriages, and a highly formal culture.
To Thorvald, life seems grand. But his world is poised on the brink. France and the Scientific Socialist Republic of Prussia defeated the eastern European dictatorship of Puustinia in the 1870s, and demanded huge reparations. Puustinia, rearming, now wants revenge. And Puustinia's dictator, Ion Seidlitz, may have the key to heavier-than-air flight-which could give him power to conquer the world.
The Vinland government recruits Thorvald to program simulations of "aeromobiles," hoping they can be built in time to beat Puustinia. And soon, a test flight to Europe drops him in the middle of the action.
This fascinating novel explores the shock of a Victorian culture facing modern-style totalitarianism. Love, freedom, and the fate of the world are all at stake as the calendar goes from 1900 to 1901, and we enter Another Century.
About the Author
Barton Paul Levenson has a degree in physics. He is happily married to poet Elizabeth Penrose and is the author of The Argo Incident and Recovering Gretel, and confuses everybody by being both a born-again Christian and a liberal Democrat.
