Blackout, by Connie Willis is a brilliant work of futuristic science fiction and also a well-researched historical novel. In the future, circa 2060, three history students at Oxford are preparing to do research, not by reading, but by using a technology that allows them to spend time in the past.
The novel opens as Polly, Merope and Mike race around campus. Before returning to World War II London, they need papers, money and period clothing. They must also have necessary information implanted into their brains.
Even with that shortcut, they still need much preparation to plunge into the past. Unfortunately, between busy professors and campus bureaucracy, time runs out and they find themselves cutting corners.
Polly has a young admirer. As she makes the rounds of Oxford seeking necessary permits and equipment, young Colin, a precocious historian with a big crush on her, determines to help her with research and preparations. Though he is five years younger than Polly, he also promises that if she gets in trouble, he will come to her rescue. At the time, Polly has no idea how soon she'll find herself stuck in London in the middle of the Blitz, praying he can do just that.
Meanwhile, once the supervising professor has approved the assignments, each student is inserted at the proper time and place using the "drop." The lab is also expected to collect them back for their check-ins, to provide additional resources as needed, and to send in a "retrieval team" if something goes wrong. Mostly, the time machine works perfectly, but as the book opens, there have been a few incidences of "slippage," both in time and location.
Polly, Mike and Merope each have their own specific assignments, but all go to separate locations as they are researching different aspects of the war: Dunkirk, the child evacuees, and the behaviour of those who sheltered in the tube stations during the Blitz.
Back in the past, the students must be careful. They have to report in regularly, so the lab techs know they are all right and how to find them in case of emergency. While observing and interacting with the "contemps," in the past, Polly, Merope and Mike must live and work in their assigned areas, and be careful to fit in. They cannot know any history or technology the contemps do not.
Above all, they must keep away from anything on the "forbidden list." It is critical not only to avoid situations that could endanger themselves, but to keep well away from "divergence points," situations where small actions on their part could change the future in unpredictable and catastrophic ways. The obvious danger is that they might affect the outcome of the war so that Britain does not win.
The system does have flaws. Even though in theory, the time continuum cancels out small changes, and disallows travel to the past that can change the future, the technology is imperfect. Drops get damaged and retrieval teams fail to show up. And as the young protagonists soon realize, nobody can function as a calm observer; nobody can go to the past without getting involved with the problems of the contemps who live and die there.
Their efforts are conscientious, but how can the three historians be sure to avoid altering the future as they try to survive in the past? Unintentionally entangled in the events of Dunkirk, has Mike rescued the wrong person? Or failed to rescue the right one? How serious is the injury he sustains at the chaotic scene? Enough to oblige the contemps to resort to that primitive treatment, amputation?
Will Merope (Eileen in the past) cause the death of her evacuee charges by returning them to their mother with tickets for the City of Benares? She knows it will sink in mid-Atlantic while attempting to carry British children to North America for safety?
Will Polly get her job at the wrong department store, or at the wrong time, and get herself blown up in the bombings of Oxford Street?
As the reader entertains these questions, each chapter ending drives forward to the next cliff-hanger with another young historian. The story strands are woven together to create a flawless coherence. Author Connie Willis slips in just enough snippets of scientific chaos theory and philosophical speculation to make her premise perfectly believable.
This book needs to be read with its sequel, All Clear. I can't wait to get my teeth into that one.This time, I'm trying the audio book.
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