Booklog 2/2018 - Ian Mortimer: Outcasts of Time

[jacey]

It’s December 1348 and the plague is raging through the West Country. Two brothers, John and William come across a dead couple with a squalling baby and John saves the baby even though William urges him to leave it to die. It turns out that John should have listened. The baby is already infected and the woman they have asked to wet-nurse it now catches plague along with her father. The brothers believe that they will soon die and go to Hell. They stumble to an old stone circle and are each given a strange choice. They will die in six days, but they can either go home, or they can spend each of their remaining days 99 years on from their previous day, searching for redemption. The following day, hardly daring to believe what has happened, they wake in 1447, ignorant of the century and vulnerable to the people who are not. They meet kindness and cruelty. Again 1546 and 1645 are equally puzzling, chaotic and frightening. They no sooner arrive than they are whisked another 99 years into the future, sometimes finding friendship, sometimes finding enemies, but with redemption just as far away as ever. Finally the last day comes in 1942. This is a book for people who love history. Each period is lovingly described and recreated. Knowing that Ian Mortimer is a historian, I trust that the historical aspects are accurate. The setting is geographically located around Exeter. (John was a stonemason who carved the faces of his loved ones into the faces of the statues.) The brothers carry their ingrained fourteenth century beliefs with them, especially as regards religion, damnation and purgatory. John is very godfearing while William has a more relaxed view of life’s opportunities. It’s a great premise and an ambitious novel that actually reads more like non-fiction. Essentially, however, it lacks a forward moving plot even though the brothers move forward through time. Each day is episodic and the brothers simply roll with the punches. Despite the plot (lack) I really enjoyed reading this for the history.