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Jacynda Lassiter is a senior Time Rover who is back in her favorite time period, London in October of 1888. She is at a posh dinner party when someone fires a gun, apparently trying to kill the Prince of Wales. Cynda recognizes the killer as Harter Defoe, Time Rover number one. The attempt is unsuccessful and the culprit is taken into custody. Lady Sephora thinks Cynda is a visitor from New York, thereby excusing her strange behavior. Sephora's husband, Lord Wescomb, is enchanted. Inspector Hulme investigates but cannot comprehend what happened. Unfortunately, Jonathon Keats, a Special Branch operative is recovering from a blow on the head and can do very little. Dr Alastair Montrose has had to close his Whitechapel Clinic and is now training as a pathologist. Both Keats and Montrose are 'transitives', people who can take on the appearance of another, which sometimes comes in handy. Apparently, the person Cynda thinks to be Harter Defoe is another transitive, who is able to leave the cell invisibly when the door is opened. During the month of October 1888, Jack the Ripper was dormant, and this is the period Oliver chooses to write about. The dichotomy between the lower and middle classes is a strong part of the tale, as are the effects of constant time travel on the Rovers. The first book in the series, SOJOURN, told us about the first group of Ripper murders, bringing us right into the middle of one of the most horrid periods in modern human history. Oliver has not wasted her extensive research by leaving it at that but has brought us another slice of life in late Victorian England, concentrating this time on the people she brought to life in SOJOURN. There is no sophomore jinx at work here, just good scholarship brought to life. I eagerly await the third book in the series due next year.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, October 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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