All Clear [Hardcover]

Connie Willis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2010

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.   

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Blackout
 
“As vivid an evocation of England during World War II as anyone has ever written . . . You’ll find here a novelist who can plot like Agatha Christie and whose books possess a bounce and stylishness that Preston Sturges might envy.”—The Washington Post
 
“A tour-de-force. [Willis is] one of America’s finest writers.”—The Denver Post
 
“[Willis has] researched Blackout so thoroughly her readers may imagine she had access to the time machine her characters use.”—The Seattle Times
 
“This compassionate and deeply imagined novel . . . gives the reader a strong you-were-there feeling.”—The Times-Picayune
 
“A page-turning thriller . . . Willis uses detail and period language exquisitely well, creating an engaging, exciting tale.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“Depicts the times and the spirit of the British people remarkably vividly. . . . multifaceted and believable.”
—Booklist (starred review)
 
“[A] book with something for everyone that ends up working on every level. It is adventure. It is history. It is science. It is, indeed, thrilling. And it is unforgettable.”—January Magazine
 
“I loved this book. It is informative, subtle, full of great characters and has a wonderful plot. . . . Brilliant. Willis at her finest.”—Michael Moorcock

About the Author

Connie Willis, who was recently inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, has received six Nebula awards and ten Hugo awards for her fiction; her novel Passage was nominated for both. Her other works include Blackout, Doomsday Book, Lincoln’s Dreams, Bellwether, Impossible Things, Remake, Uncharted Territory, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Fire Watch, and Miracle and Other Christmas Stories. Connie Willis lives in Colorado with her family.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 656 pages
• Publisher: Spectra; 1 edition (October 19, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553807676
• ISBN-13: 978-0553807677
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.8 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (124 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Connie Willis is an established author of many science fiction books, including THE DOOMSDAY BOOK, and winner of both the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award for best sf novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS IS NOT A SEQUEL!!!!, October 5, 2010

By 

Mary Lins (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All Clear (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

IMPORTANT: you MUST have read "Blackout" before reading "All Clear" the latest novel by Connie Willis. It is not a sequel with explanations of what went on before, it's PART 2; it picks up right where the other left off. In fact, I'd just read "Blackout" a few months ago and it still took me a while to get back into the swing. Some reviewers rated it down because it was "confusing" even though they admittedly hadn't read Part 1 ("Blackout"). That's like starting a book in the middle and then complaining that you didn't know what was going on.

"All Clear" is the conclusion to Hugo Award Winning Willis' latest novel of time travel. These books wonderfully combine my love of time travel stories with historical fiction about WWII. In "Blackout" Willis set up for us three Oxford historians from 2060 who have gone back to different parts of WWII to do research. One to Dunkirk, one to the countryside to which Londoners had evacuated their children and one to London during the Blitz. Other characters, such as a reporter sent to 1944 to blow up inflatable tanks, and a woman ambulance driver, may or may not be related or the same time travelers. Willis expertly weaves history with suspense as each historian confronts a situation where he/she may or may not have affected history. What if Mike saved a man at Dunkirk who was supposed to die? How would that affect the course of the war? Or even of mankind?

The cliff-hanger at the end of "Blackout" has three of the historians finding each other and also discovering that the portals through which they are able to return to 2060 aren't functioning. Will they ever get back? Are they trapped together until the end of the war? Will Oxford send a team to rescue them?

"All Clear" picks up the suspense and the fascinating details of history. The books are bursting full of interesting WWII history and little-known data points. Many times the story would mention something that I was unfamiliar with (e.g., Ultra, Anderson shelters, V1 and V2 "tipping") causing me to do independent research on the topics; THAT is historical fiction at its best!

If you enjoy "Blackout" and "All Clear" as I have, you will want to go back and read Willis' other Oxford historian time-travel novels; "Doomsday Book" and "To Say Nothing of the Dog".

57 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A suspenseful science fiction novel of the first caliber, September 26, 2010

By 

Mark Klobas (Tempe, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: All Clear (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Connie Willis's latest novel picks up exactly where the last one, Blackout, left off, with the young 21st century historians Polly Churchill, Merope Ward, and Michael Ward trapped in England during the Blitz. Having finally located each other, the three struggle to survive in war-ravaged London, desperately attempting to locate other time travelers and trying to contact the future to alert them to their plight. Adding to their urgency is a deadline Polly faces, when she must depart before her presence on an earlier trip jeopardizes her existence. And preying upon all of them is the growing fear that their actions may have changed the past and undone the future to which there are trying to return.

As she does in her previous novel, Willis interweaves the narratives of multiple characters amidst a vivid portrait of wartime England and the perils her characters face. This often can be confusing, but her richly detailed plot rewards the reader, gradually revealing its secrets as developments unfold. In this respect, it is unfortunate that the two volumes were published separately, as both are required to fully appreciate her success in developing such a carefully layered narrative. Together they combine to create a suspenseful work of the first caliber, one in which many of the themes characteristic of her work - single-minded characters whose agendas interfere with the plans of the protagonists, the impact of technology on personal lives, the effort to cope with tragedy and loss - are on full display. Fans of well-written science fiction or historical works will enjoy her gripping and intricate novel, one that is sure to become one of the classics of the genre.

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good setting, poor plot, October 25, 2010

By 

William Kerney (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All Clear (Hardcover)

Let me preface this by saying that I love history, and if Connie Willis has done anything right with this book, it is to compact an absolutely amazing amount of detail about the Blitz into a fictional book about time travel.

But if you don't like history, you probably won't like this book, because that's its most redeeming factor.

Essentially, this book is a classic example of what happens when you have a good setting but a poor plot. The setting is fantastic - a bunch of time travelers lost in WWII with bombs falling all around them, but the plot is absolute rubbish. Take the following two lines, copy and paste them until you run out of space in one book, and then continue through the end of a second book:
"Gasp! We might have changed the space-time continuum!"
"Oops, oh, no. Everything is fine."

Intersperse with too many repeated cliffhangers involving chapter ends with historians nearly dying (Will They SURVIVE?) and some slapstick involving nobody being able to get ahold of each other, ever, and you've basically got Blackout and All Clear.

The first time this device is used, it's interesting and tense. The 47th time the historians wonder if they altered events (and they didn't) you just sort of roll your eyes and hope for more details about parachute bombs or V1 wrangling.

This book shouldn't have been split in twain - it should have been ruthlessly edited down to half its size (by cutting out all the redundant redundant plot points) and put into one, tighter, novel. I love Willis' books, but this really needed someone to take a +5 Axe of Editing to it with a vengeance.