Description

1916: the Western Front. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong, and the wind in the leaves in the trees. Where has the mud, blood and blasted landscape of No Man’s Land gone?

2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Cop Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive (some said mad, others dangerous) scientist when she finds a curious gadget – a box containing some wiring, a three-way switch and a…potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way Mankind views his world for ever.

And that is an understatement if ever there was one…

Publisher Review

By turns thrillingly expansive, joyously inventive and utterly engrossing *****. * SFX magazine * An absorbing collaborative effort from two SF giants...a marriage made in fan heaven - Pratchett's warmth and humanity allied to Baxter's extraordinarily fertile science-fictional imagination...there's much to enjoy...a charming, absorbing and somehow spacious piece of imagineering -- Adam Roberts * GUARDIAN * The idea of parallel Earths is one of the most enduring that science fiction has given us, but rarely has it been explored with quite so much gusto as in this new novel by two of the giants of British speculative fiction...a triumph...accessible, fun and thoughtful -- David Barnett * INDEPENDENT * ***** Literary alchemy...In the hands of Pratchett and Baxter, the possibilites are almost infinite...a story that revels in big ideas...you can sense the excitement of the authors as they toy with the labyrinthine possibilities of their premise, and it's infectious...thrillingly expansive, joyously inventive and utterly engrossing * SFX * [Pratchett] succeeds in working seamlessly with Baxter...adding a welcome shot of fun to the world of science fiction -- Alison Flood * SUNDAY TIMES *