The Watch
by Dennis Danvers
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0380977621/qid=1042984115/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-7637210-1756125
From Publishers Weekly
A philosophical inquiry with a basic moral point, this literate time-travel
tale also thoroughly entertains. In 1921, the ailing, 78-year-old Russian
anarchist Peter Kropotkin is visited by an "angel," Anchee Mahur, who
offers him a mysterious choice. He can either die or resume life as a young
man, but in 1999, in Richmond, Va., Kropotkin agrees to a new life, but
never loses his distrust of Anchee, a being from a future so far ahead that
Anchee claims he could never adapt to it. One has less a sense of reading a
story than of following the provocative thinking of the novel's displaced
hero and narrator. The quotations that head each chapter from the real-life
Kropotkin and such writers as Dickens and Coleridge, as well as Civil War
generals and politicians lend insights into slavery, the Civil War and race
in America. As Kropotkin copes with, and improves on, the world immediately
around him, he tries to understand his purpose. Seemingly chance meetings
give him a girlfriend, a job, friends, a place to live and contact with
others from the past. Earl, a reclusive doctor and former resident of the
Civil War-era prison on Belle Isle, provides more history lessons. As the
anarchist becomes more aware of Anchee's manipulations, he finds himself
once again with a terrible choice. Does he go along with Anchee's plan or
suffer the consequences if he does not? Can he trade personal comfort for
humanity's potential slavery? Danvers (End of Days) succeeds in making the
reader really care about the answers. (Jan. 2)Forecast: Reminiscent of
classic SF tales of the '40s and '50s, such as Asimov's Foundation series,
this compelling novel may well become a minor classic in the field.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-This is a novel of ideas, but it is also one of great
heart and fabulous personality. As the elderly philosopher Peter Kropotkin
lies dying in 1921 Russia, Anchee Mahur, a visitor from the far future,
offers to bring him back to life-restored to health, in a future time and
place. Peter's curiosity gets the better of him and he soon finds himself
in 1999, in Richmond, VA. He is on his own, starting a new life in what, to
him, might as well be an alien planet, with no capital... read more
