From Publishers Weekly
Author of such imaginative novels as Waltz in Marathon and Crows, Dickinson is a splendid writer who has yet to reach the audience he deserves. After a decade's hiatus, he edges close to sci-fi in this psychologically rich and engrossing novel about time travel. Reminiscent of Jack Finney's Time and Again, but with its own distinctive flair, the story begins with a subtle, clever twist on time-travel tropes. The hero, Josh Winkler, discovers he has the ability to move just 15 minutes backward in time. Unlike previous fictional chrononauts, he soon has his whole small town of Euclid, Ill., talking about his exploit, some believing, most not. Josh is a hopeful if unsuccessful artist. His wife, Flo, is a hard-working, family-supporting pediatrician, and their daughter, Penny, is a typical teenager. After Josh's unexpected temporal adventures, his life begin to unravel. He eventually manages to go back 80 years and encounters a mysterious 15-year-old girl, Constance Morceau, herself an unsuspecting traveler from 1908, whose plight is poignant. The narrative tension increases dramatically as her apparently hopeless situation becomes clearer. The reader shares Josh's highs and lows in a time-twisting game of blind man's buff over which he has little control. Dickinson's trick is intertwining stories, for Josh's own daughter is also transported back three generations, and he learns she will die in the influenza epidemic after WWI unless he can get her out. The conclusion to this intricate and sophisticated time paradox puzzle is unexpected yet logical. This is a low-key gem.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Perhaps the ageless allure of time travel stems from the desire to go back and "set things straight" or "get it right this time," itself born of stubborn resistance to the unstoppability of time. Yet modern science speaks of gateways in time that could conceivably allow really going back. Science can't, of course, predict the consequences of doing so. Quiet Euclid Heights, Illinois, is home to Josh, a painter; his doctor-wife Flo; and their daughter, Penny. Built with irregular pathways as shortcuts from one end of town to the other, Euclid Heights also provides a shortcut in time. A young woman suddenly appears, sodden despite the bright heat of the day, and claiming to be living in 1908. Josh might never have taken her seriously had he not accidentally "traveled" the same path a quarter-hour into the past. Can he help Constance return to her time and go back to reverse his brother's fate? In the manner of Jonathan Carroll, Dickinson conjures a notably mundane environment, then makes it extraordinary. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
Charles Dickinson's novels and short stories have won widespread acclaim for their deft characterization, humanity, and humor. Newsday described him as "a writer thoroughly in command of his art," while the Chicago Tribune wrote "he can surprise us at almost every turn."
Now Dickinson slips beyond the bounds of mundane realism to create a poignant fantasy that bears comparison to the work of Jack Finney and Jonathan Carroll.
Euclid, Illinois, is a town of many shortcuts, between houses, through orchards, and across fields. Josh Winkler, a local artist and longtime resident, knows these irregular pathways well, but is thoroughly taken aback when a hasty dash down a familiar walk deposits him fifteen minutes in the past--literally. At first, Josh is more intrigued than alarmed by this accidental time travel. Then a lost young woman appears, claiming to be from 1908 . . . .
As his life, his family, his town, and even history itself begin to unravel, Josh gradually realizes that his only salvation may lie in A Shortcut Time.
Charles Dickinson has written a moving and unforgettable book about the way the past can affect the present as well as, sometimes, the other way around.
About the Author
Charles Dickinson is the acclaimed author of such novels as Crows, Rumor Has It, The Widows' Adventures, and Waltz in Marathon. He lives in Arlington, Illinois.
A Shortcut in Time FROM THE PUBLISHER
Charles Dickinson's novels and short stories have won widespread acclaim for their deft characterization, humanity, and humor. Newsday described him as "a writer thoroughly in command of his art," while the Chicago Tribune wrote "he can surprise us at almost every turn."
Now Dickinson slips beyond the bounds of mundane realism to create a poignant fantasy that bears comparison to the work of Jack Finney and Jonathan Carroll.
Euclid, Illinois, is a town of many shortcuts, between houses, through orchards, and across fields. Josh Winkler, a local artist and longtime resident, knows these irregular pathways well, but is thoroughly taken aback when a hasty dash down a familiar walk deposits him fifteen minutes in the past--literally. At first, Josh is more intrigued than alarmed by this accidental time travel. Then a lost young woman appears, claiming to be from 1908 . . . .
As his life, his family, his town, and even history itself begin to unravel, Josh gradually realizes that his only salvation may lie in A Shortcut Time.
Charles Dickinson has written a moving and unforgettable book about the way the past can affect the present as well as, sometimes, the other way around.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Author of such imaginative novels as Waltz in Marathon and Crows, Dickinson is a splendid writer who has yet to reach the audience he deserves. After a decade's hiatus, he edges close to sci-fi in this psychologically rich and engrossing novel about time travel. Reminiscent of Jack Finney's Time and Again, but with its own distinctive flair, the story begins with a subtle, clever twist on time-travel tropes. The hero, Josh Winkler, discovers he has the ability to move just 15 minutes backward in time. Unlike previous fictional chrononauts, he soon has his whole small town of Euclid, Ill., talking about his exploit, some believing, most not. Josh is a hopeful if unsuccessful artist. His wife, Flo, is a hard-working, family-supporting pediatrician, and their daughter, Penny, is a typical teenager. After Josh's unexpected temporal adventures, his life begin to unravel. He eventually manages to go back 80 years and encounters a mysterious 15-year-old girl, Constance Morceau, herself an unsuspecting traveler from 1908, whose plight is poignant. The narrative tension increases dramatically as her apparently hopeless situation becomes clearer. The reader shares Josh's highs and lows in a time-twisting game of blind man's buff over which he has little control. Dickinson's trick is intertwining stories, for Josh's own daughter is also transported back three generations, and he learns she will die in the influenza epidemic after WWI unless he can get her out. The conclusion to this intricate and sophisticated time paradox puzzle is unexpected yet logical. This is a low-key gem. (Jan.) Forecast: Dickinson has a chance to attract a larger readership with this new book. His previous novel, The Widow's Adventures, has been optioned by TriStar, with Angela Lansbury and Shirley MacLaine slated to star. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Would you travel in time if you knew that your entire life might be altered? What if you could prevent a tragedy from happening to someone you love? Josh Winkler's settled life changes when he chooses a shortcut to town and ends up 15 minutes in the past. On the same path, he meets Constance, another bewildered time traveler from the year 1908. No one believes them, especially Josh's doctor wife, who orders neurological tests. To validate their experiences, Josh researches Constance's disappearance in the local library's newspaper archives and discovers that Constance's boyfriend, a suspect in her disappearance, was hanged by an angry mob; Constance needs to find her way back to 1908 to prevent his death. The suspense builds further when Josh's daughter disappears on the same path, and Josh finds her name listed in a 1918 newspaper. In a radical change of pace from his more realistic novels (The Widows' Adventures), Dickinson proposes fascinating questions about time, history, and sanity and illustrates how actions, even with the best of intentions, can have dire consequences. Reminiscent of Jack Finney's classic Time and Again, this fantastic page-turner is highly recommended for most public libraries.-Jennifer Baker, Seattle P.L. Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Going back in time doesn't require multimillion-dollar equipment and flashing special effects, apparently; all it needs is for someone to run down a certain path at just the right time during a thunderous rainstorm. That, at least, is what underpins Chicago journalist Dickinson's fifth novel (after Rumor Has It, 1990), a story of small-town science fiction. Dickinson nods in more than a few ways to the specter of Ray Bradbury by setting the tale in the bucolic burg of Euclid, Illinois, where one Josh Winkler, a dreamer and poorly selling artist who is essentially supported by his physician wife and who, by taking the above-mentioned little dash down an old pathway, gets dumped 15 minutes into the past. After that, things start to accelerate (though never too quickly: this is a 21st-century novel deliberately given 19th-century pacing and atmosphere), initially with the arrival of Constance, a young girl from the early 1900s who took the same fateful walk and is now trying to figure out her new surroundings. Not surprisingly, Josh is fascinated by Constance's story, which his wife steadfastly refuses to believe is anything but a hoax, and, together, the two of them pore over microfiche news stories, trying to piece together whether Constance ever made it back to the past. Meanwhile, reports of Josh's apparent mania have spread through Euclid; people are canceling their appointments with his wife; and teenagers are amassing on the pathways near Josh's house, begging for advice on how to jump into the past or future, just so they can get away from the here and now. A little too laid-back for its own good, though it does rally itself at the end with some unexpected developments to come out agenial little piece of time-travel trickery.
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