The novel opens with an account of a lost child in 2113 and then moves forward to the year 2135. The Chairman of the Arts Department informs Joseph Dashper, a lecturer at Camford University, England, that his bid for a new department is not going to be funded.Joseph also discovers that his chairman's daughter, Alice, is keen to start a relationship with Joseph. The world is in the grip of a population decline and Joseph rejects Alice's offer.Joseph agrees to let his friends, Ralph and Eric, perform a physics experiment in a storage shed at Monksbridge Hall, his family property. The experiment opens up a portal to the year 1535 as an unexpected side effect. Eric becomes ill with the plague. Joseph is persuaded to make a crossing in the hope of retrieving artifacts.Sister Miriam is initiated into a religious order in 1523. After her move into a new cell she begins to have visions. She later has an unfortunate encounter with a young monk. The story of Miriam progresses to the year 1535 when the librarian suffers a compound fracture of his leg and Miriam is placed in charge of the library. The Abbot threatens to close the library. Miriam has fresh visions which are troubling.Joseph mee
For young readers
Book data: Open Library