Synopses & Reviews
Published to massive acclaim in Spain, FÉlix J. Palma’s rollicking page-turner boasts a cast of real and imagined literary characters and cunning intertwined plots, as a skeptical H.G. Wells becomes a time-traveling investigator in Victorian London.
Jack the Ripper, Allan Quartermain, Dracula author Bram Stoker, the Elephant Man, and Jules Verne are among the players in FÉlix J. Palma’s captivating and ambitious novel. To save innocent lives—including that of his own wife—H. G. Wells the author of The Time Machine must discover the truth about purported incidents of time travel. The mysteries involve an aristocrat in love with a murdered prostitute from the past; a woman bent on fleeing the strictures of Victorian society by searching for her lover somewhere in the future; and a fourth-dimensional plot to murder celebrated authors in order to steal their fictional creations.
Awarded the 2008 XL Ateneo de Sevilla Novela Prize and lauded as “a miracle from beginning to end…a masterpiece” ( QuÉ Leer ) on its original publication , The Map of Time is an audacious historical fantasy executed with uncommon skill. It is a story full of love, adventure, and extraordinary imagination.
Review
“Strange and wonderful. Magical and smart. FÉlix J. Palma has done more than written a wonderful novel, he’s concocted a supernatural tour de force. Time travel, tragic love, murder and mystery all combine in what is nothing short of a surprising, satisfying and mesmerizing read.” - M.J. Rose, International Bestseller
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"The Map of Time recalls the science fiction of Wells and Verne, and then turns the early masters on their heads. A brilliant and breathtaking trip through metafictional time." --Scott Westerfeld, New York Times bestselling author of Leviathan
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"Palma makes his U.S. debut with the brilliant first in a trilogy, an intriguing thriller that explores the ramifications of time travel in three intersecting narratives." -- starred Publishers Weekly review
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"Readers who embark on the journey...will be richly rewarded. --starred Booklist review
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"Lyrical storytelling and a rich attention to detail make this prize-winning novel an enthralling read." --starred Library Journal Review
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“The Map of Time is a singularly inventive, luscious story with a core of pure, unsettling weirdness. With unnerving grace and disturbing fantasy, it effortlessly straddles that impossible line between being decidedly familiar, and yet absolutely new.” --Cherie Priest, author of Boneshaker
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"Palma is a master of ingenious plotting." --Kirkus Reviews
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"A big, genre-bending delight." --The Washington Post
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"Palma uses the basic ingredients of steampunk — fantasy, mystery, ripping adventure and Victorian-era high-tech — to marvelous effect. " --Seattle Times
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"'Intellectual thriller' is not an oxymoron in this case. Eccentric, informed. Time travel, H.G. Wells, Jack the Ripper, robots, romance, changing history, destroying classic literature. Spot on narration. Good clean fun." --Tulsa World
Synopsis
A page turner in which a skeptical H.G. Wells is called upon to investigate purported incidents of time-travel and save lives.
Synopsis
THE PHENOMENAL INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERSet in Victorian London with char-acters real and imagined, The Map of Time is a page-turner that boasts a triple play of intertwined plots in which a skeptical H. G. Wells is called upon to investigate purported incidents of time travel and to save lives and literary classics, including Dracula and The Time Machine, from being wiped from existence. What happens if we change history? Félix J. Palma explores this question in The Map of Time, weaving a historical fantasy as imaginative as it is exciting—a story full of love and adventure that transports readers to a haunting setting in Victorian London for their own taste of time travel.
Synopsis
THE PHENOMENAL INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
Set in Victorian London with characters real and imagined, The Map of Time boasts a triple-play of intertwined plots in which a skeptical H.G. Wells is called upon to investigate purported incidents of time travel and thereby save the lives of an aristocrat in love with a murdered prostitute from the past; of a woman bent on fleeing the strictures of Victorian society; and of his very own wife, who may have become a pawn in a 4th-dimensional plot to murder the authors of Dracula, The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds, in order to alter their identities and steal their fictional creations.
But, what happens if we change history? FÉlix J. Palma raises such questions in The Map of Time. Mingling fictional characters with real ones, Palma weaves a historical fantasy as imaginative as it is exciting, a story full of love and adventure that also pays homage to the roots of science fiction while transporting its readers to a fascinating Victorian London for their own taste of time travel.
About the Author
FÉlix J. Palma (SanlÚcar de Barrameda, 1968) has been unanimously acclaimed by critics as one of the most brilliant and original storytellers of our time. His devotion to the short story genre has earned him more than a hundred awards.
The Map of Time is his first book to be published in the United States. It received the 2008 Ateneo de Sevila XL Prize and will be published in more than 30 countries.
Translator's Bio:
Nick Caistor is a translator, journalist and author of non-fiction books. He has translated some 40 books from Spanish and Portuguese and has twice been awarded the Valle-InclÁn prize for translation These include Paulo Coelho, Eduardo Mendoza, Juan MarsÉ and Manuel VÁzquez Montalban. As a journalist, he has presented and produced many programmes on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, and contributes regularly to the TLS and The Guardian.