"Recreate the Past!"
Terry Gallagher discovers the secret to happiness! Or so he
initially believes! He's educated and married a lively and beautiful woman, a
money-hungry gal who quickly trades him for the gardener.
Disillusioned, Terry returns to his home town and hopes to
settle into an academic life of teaching at Frazier College
in Cleveland, Ohio. But his plans are disrupted when he
discovers that the path to riches is easier than he ever
thought. A former teacher and now colleague has left behind
some journals indicating the directions for time-travel.
Questions immediately haunt Terry: Can one change the past
so that one can become richer than ever dreamed? Can one
alter history? The story has previously been told by many
authors, but the author does a good job presenting the
topic with a new twist. He decides he will precede the
Wright Brothers and invent an airplane which he will patent
for future financial security and, indeed, affluence.
Although he doesn't want his wife back, Terry's vision
initially resembles more of Jill's personality than he is
consciously aware. Terry travels back and forth between the early twentieth
century and the present. He attains his dream of invention,
thanks to information he obtains in the present, but it
becomes rather complicated when he falls in love with the
woman who was his grandmother and when alternative forms of
history keep appearing about the same people each time he
leaves and returns. For example, initially we find that his
brother, Larry's, fiance died in a terrible car crash but
later there is one scene where Larry is married to the same
woman and has children by her. In another scene she is shot
before they marry. Terry's got his hands full with figuring
out what's what and deciding which woman he truly loves -
from the past or present - and what he should do about his
double! There's hardly a breath to spare in the speed with which
the action and changes occur, perhaps a bit much for the
average reader; but this is surely a tale to fascinate
anyone in love with time-travel stories. Rich in
descriptive detail about each place Terry visits and
humbling in the answers he seeks and finds, this is a most
unusual story told in a plot-driven style as fast as the
time it takes to enter another age and return! Nicely done, Mr. Stark! Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on May 17, 2004
Reviewed by Viviane Crystal
Courtesy Crystal Reviews
Posted May 19, 2004
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