The Little Book
Selden Edwards
Think of this as the literary offspring of the central ideas in the time-travel crowd-pleaser Back To The Future (1985) and Forrest Gump (1994), in which the titular character is inserted into pivotal moments in history.
Rock star and one-time baseball wonder pitcher Wheeler Burden is transported from 1988 back to 1897 Vienna, Austria, where he meets his father, World War II hero Dilly, who is himself transported to the same time and place from 1944.
The mechanics of this, wisely perhaps, are never explained. Instead, the author offers an emotional rationalisation for these feats.
It so happens that fin de siecle Vienna is something that Burden is deeply familiar with, having learnt all about it from his beloved preparatory school mentor Arnauld Esterhazy, who also taught Dilly.
Just as Back To The Future's Marty McFly had to fend off the amorous attentions of his teenage mother, there are complicated liaisons between supposed relatives in this book.
Freud would have a field day with this and he appears in the book, attempting to psychoanalyse Burden, whom he believes to be severely deluded.
First-time author Edwards, who started writing the book in 1974, also serves up cameos from rock legend Buddy Holly and composer Gustav Mahler to American writer Mark Twain and a young Adolf Hitler.
He recreates a detailed sense of time and place, and also has fun with the circular nature of cause and effect inherent in time-travel stories.
The characters, though, come off as too black or white - they are either noble or despicable.
The writing also has a somewhat stilted quality to it and can be a little repetitive at times.
But as befits a former headmaster, there is a well-designed lesson plan here that draws you in, holds your attention and makes you think.

If you like this, read: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (2004, $23.44 with GST, Books Kinokuniya). This devastating tale of the impact of time-travelling on a relationship is at its heart a deeply moving romance.
(ST)