ALL CLEAR

I can’t really be objective here. I can see some validity in the argument that an editor should have stepped in to pare down Connie Willis’s exhaustive detail; after all, the two-book set (this plus Blackout) totals more than 1,100 pages. But to me, that just means there’s more to love. So keep in mind that this is coming from someone who has infinite patience for just about anything Willis dishes out, but I think this is a tour-de-force epic on her best themes (and some of my favorites as well): the perils of time travel, the allure and elusiveness of history, the joys and frustrations of academics, the quiet heroism of everyday people, and World War II—specifically, the British home front experience, covered in nearly every facet from air raids to evacuees to ambulance drivers. The second volume delivers a satisfying, bittersweet payoff on everything painstakingly set up in the first.