This Time
by Joan Szechtman
Basset Books LLC, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9824493-0-1
Trade Paperback
344 pages
Historical Fiction
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Richard III is yanked into the 21st century in his dying moments and a substitute body is left in his place, so as to keep then and now balanced at an atomic level, at a static level of energy. While this is an interesting concept, I don’t believe it’s ever explained how the scientists could make such exact measurements using the equipment available to them. However, I suspended my disbelief and gave the novel a chance.
And it turns out that This Time by Joan Szechtman is an enjoyable read. Billed as historical fiction, it also gives more than a nod to the science fiction genre and the romance genre. The book deals largely with Richard’s attempts to adapt to 500 years of technical and social changes. He must learn to use a computer and drive a car. His English is also terribly out of date. And Richard, ever the man of action, also intends to carve out a place in the business world where his skills can be applied in a useful way. Intuitive thinking and the ability to solve problems quickly and with confidence helps…
He converts the project director from an enemy who puts two bullets into him to the man who allows Richard to run a risky project of his own, as well as becoming a welcome member of the corporate structure of the company itself.
His romance with the inventor of the original technology used in the time machine, who knows Richard only as the evil, deformed man portrayed in one of Shakespeare’s plays, is also complicated by the fact that the woman is Jewish and Richard is a devout Catholic who is not at all comfortable with today’s atmosphere of religious toleration. Richard sets out to solve this set of problems just as he would plan a campaign.
Richard’s emotional wounds from the recent deaths of his wife and child, and his folly of taking his men into a battle he knows they cannot win, takes a heavy toll. Did he go into battle as a form of suicide? If he can be brought forward in time, what about his wife and son?
As Richard works through all the alien ideas and possibilities now open to him, one can see the shape of a king emerge—with one exception. Richard is comfortable dealing with all kinds of people, but is especially demonstrative of emotion when it comes to his new love and her children and of his doomed wife and the son he hopes to rescue from an early death. This did not feel real to me. Everything I’ve read of the historical times of Richard III leaves me with the suspicion that overt emotion of any kind would be seen as a weakness and thus avoided. Why would Richard make such an about face in our time? Yes, I believe he would want the same results he garners within the pages of This Time, but I think he would have been more aloof and would have kept his own council.
Anyway, these are just my opinions. This Time by Joan Szechtman is probably closer in content to the movie Kate and Leopold than Michael Crichton’s Timeline, but comparison between the three stories seems to indicate that This Time presents a more believable scenario than either of the mentioned stories. History Buffs and Romantics should find the book most enjoyable.
Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2010
This is some text prior to the author information. You can change this text from the admin section of WP-Gravatar Clayton Bye is a long-time writer, editor and publisher. He has authored 8 books, published an anthology called Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road and reviewed many hundreds of other books. He offers a wide range of writing & editing services. Visit www.claytonbye.com. Read more from this author
In an email I received from the author, who is happy with the review, by the way, I have been given a reason for the emotional behaviour of Richard III in her novel. As this was information I didn’t have and it seems to offer a reasonable explanation, I thought I would share it with you…
“according to contemporary (to Richard) records, both he and his queen nearly went mad with grief upon learning of the death of their son and Richard wept openly at his queen’s funeral and then shut himself off from the world for three days following. So while he would try to keep his emotions in check, I didn’t see him as always able to do so.”
Sounds plausible to me. Thanks Joan.
Clayton, thank you for so generously publishing my reasons for seeing Richard as being outwardly emotional at times. I had remembered reading both incidences of intense grief in the “Croyland Chronicles” when I sent you the email, but for an unrelated reason I checked my source and just discovered that my reference for his grief for his wife came from a secondary source, instead: “The Betrayal of Richard III” by V. B. Lamb.
I guess I’m somewhat anal about being as accurate about my sources as I try to be about the history. *my face is red*