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Time and Again by Jack Finney
reviewed by Helen Ryder
Original appearance: FTL 7, Winter 1990
Time and Again first appealed to me because of its attractive cover, a skyscape of Manhattan high-rises behind a snowy Edwardian house. A trade paperback, which normally has me screaming 'rip-off!', the enclosed text and illustrations made me feel that it might be worth the inflated price this size of book normally costs. On reading the book, my initial reactions were justified. Time And Again is, as the blurb states, a timeslip romance. An artist, Si Morley, is approached by a U.S. official to be part of a secret government project, so secret that Si won't learn what it is unless he takes the bait and joins up. Si's name has been gleaned from his National Service record as a strong potential member of the group. Si finally agrees and becomes involved with a major time-travel experiment, where through sheer belief, incredible research and almost self hypnosis, men and women THINK themselves back into earlier eras in their history.
The project is run by Dr Danziger who wishes to send Si back to the new York of the late 1800's, a date which intrigues Si as his girlfriend has a family mystery dating from that time. After months of training the experiment succeeds and Si, secretly accompanied by his girlfriend on his first trip, makes a number of excursions to the past over several months and becomes involved with the people there, allowing the mystery to unfold with dire consequences. Perversion by the project of the military directs the choices Si has to make in the Past which may affect his Present. The novel is lavishly illustrated by photographs from a 'camera' Si has 'taken' with him, and includes fascinating insights into real events in New York, 1882. The time travel theory is the same as that used by Richard Matheson in his book Bid Time Return, filmed as Somewhere In Time, which initially turned me off, but that was actually a later book.
A good read for the fans of lighter SF - the time travel portion, though a necessary plot device, is secondary to the hero's meanderings through the ancient Big Apple.
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