Nettie van Straten Libri

In which we find Jherek Carnelian, one of the small population of hedonistic immortals remaining on earth at the end of time, still obsessively in love with Mrs. Amelia Underwood, a reluctant time-traveler from Victorian England. After narrowly escaping death in nineteenth-century London, Jherek again is separated from his love by several millenniums. And so he begins a new, headlong campaign - seesawing through space and time regardless of risk or consequence - to reunite himself with Mrs. Underwood. This is volume II in a trilogy, The Dancers at the End of Time, of which An Alien Heat was the first. It is full of astounding antics and incredible characters. Another outstanding book by one of the most esteemed and prolific writers of science fiction.

For the hedonistic immortals who dwell at the End of Time, the return of Jherek Carnelian with Mrs. Amelia Underwood - a reluctant time-traveler from Victorian England - is cause for jubilant celebration. Led by Jherek's mother, the Iron Orchid, the immortals set off on a mad spree of spectacular festivities. And in no time at all, Amelia, with her radiant beauty and quaintly platonic way of looking at things (especially Jherek), becomes the toast of the End of Time. But as the pandemonium progresses, some delicious and long-held mysteries are revealed and some distressing omens appear on the horizon. Due to circumstances beyond their control, immortality - at least as far as the immortals know it - will never be the same again.

Naomi Mitchison, daughter of a distinguished scientist, sister of geneticist J B S Haldane, was always interested in the sciences, especially genetics. Her novels did not tend to demonstrate this, and she did not publish a Science Fiction novel until almost forty years into her fiction-writing career. Isobel Murray's Introduction here argues that it is by no means 'pure' Science Fiction: the success of the novel depends not only on the extraordinarily variety of life forms its heroine encounters and attempts to communicate with on different worlds: she is also a very credible human, or Terran, with recognisibly human emotions and a dramatic emotional life. This novel works effectively for readers who usually eschew the genre and prefer more traditional narratives. Explorers like Mary are an elite class who consider curiosity to be Terrans' supreme gift, and in the novel she more than once takes risks that may destroy her life. Her voice, as she records her adventures and experiments, is individual, attractive and memorable. Isobel Murray is Emeritus Professor of Modern Scottish Literature at the University of Aberdeen.