Pulp

Pulp by Robin Talley is a series of stories of young lesbians - one in present day, and one in the 1950s.

Abby Zimet has to choose a topic for her senior project - a full year on something where she produces a work. It can be anything, but she has not chosen because she is preoccupied by her parents' relationship dying and the break up with her girlfriend. When she discovers the lesbian pulp books from the 50s and 60s she decides to write her own.

Abby's favorite so far is a book by Marian Love. The first (fictional) book where one of the main characters did not have to die to appease the censors of the time. She wants to find out more about the woman who wrote it.

Janet Jones picked up a book in the train station. A story of two women in love who have a hard time and then ultimately break up so that one of them goes back to her male fiancée. Janet is so moved that she writes a letter to the author.

But in the 1950s, along with McCarthy's obsession on finding communists, there was the lavender scare. A witch hunt of people turning in anyone who they thought was gay - or they just did not like. Janet's best friend (and crush) just got a job with the State Department.

Talley has written a kind of layered story of young lesbians finding authors who understand them, and they in turn writing a book that someone of a later generation finds. The character of Janet Jones - stuck in the 50s in a religious family - is the best part of this book. She is a strong, strong woman stuck in a dangerous time.

Talley, Robin. (2018). Pulp. New York: Harlequin Teen.

All Clear (Oxford Time Travel #2)

All Clear by Connie Willis is the second book in her Oxford Time Travel duo. Historians from 2060 travel to England during WWII to study the war and its effects on people.

Armed with the schedule of bombs dropped on London, Polly has traveled to the Blitz to study the people in shelters and how the almost nightly attacks affect them.

Her brief includes getting a job as a shop girl at the one department store not hit and renting a room in a street that is safe as well.

But her assignment also included checking in to give the team at Oxford her address so that if anything goes wrong they can pull her out. But her drop has not been opening so she cannot go back (technically forth!) and check in. The longer her drop does not open the more likely that she will be in London for longer than her list of bombs she studied.

Michael and Merope are having the same problem. Each of them know Polly and are going to London to find her and use her drop. If nothing else, it will be easier for the retrieval team to find them if they stick together. And due to the nature of time travel, even if the team at Oxford need time to figure it out, they can still travel back to when they need to for a rescue.

As the Blitz intensifies, the historians are living the history they wanted to study. But what if their prolonged stays cause ripples that change the outcome of the war or the people they meet?

Read this series! It is amazing. Connie Willis has come up with a fascinating timeline that puts readers and characters alike into the terror of war. What once seems like a simple plot, develops into a trap that readers will stay up late to escape.

Willis, Connie. (2010). All Clear. New York: Spectra.

Blackout (Oxford Time Travel #1)

Blackout by Connie Willis is the first of a two book series about historians who travel back in time to learn about their time of study.

In the year 2060, historians can not only study history, but experience it firsthand. Scientists have found a way to travel back in time. Oxford has been sending people back for years now. There are whole departments to make sure that clothing, paperwork and items are period-authentic so historians can blend in. The chaos of the space/time continuum will not allow the historians to alter events, but they still take care to watch their effects on those they meet.

Three historians who are studying WWII in England, are about to go to that time. Merope will be going back as Eileen, a woman in service who will help at a country house to study the child evacuees from the Blitz. Many families sent their children to the country to be clear of the bombs dropped on London.

Polly has already been to the war. She returned from 1945 where she was an ambulance driver. Now she is going to the beginning of the Blitz to see life in the air raid shelters.

Mike is traveling as a newspaper man, from America. He was due to go to Pearl Harbor first, hence the accent implant that means he needs a cover that is American. His drops were re-arranged with little explanation. Now he is on his way to see the evacuation of Dunkirk from the small boats along the English Channel.

Lately in the net, there have been slippages. Historians arriving a few minutes late or a few blocks away. It may be due to the fact that a drop will not open if there are witnesses. But each of these historians experience large slippage. How will that effect them getting back to 2060?

Willis has written an amazing book. It is one of the few WWII accounts that make the reader feel like they understand how people felt. If you are a fan of history or just great writing, read this!

Willis, Connie. (2010). Blackout. New York: Spectra.