A Bridge of Years

by Robert Charles Wilson

Overview

Tom Winter thought the secluded cottage in the Pacific Northwest would be the perfect refuge—a place to nurse the wounds of lost love and happiness. But Tom soon discovers that his safe haven is the portal of a tunnel through time. At one end is the present. At the other end—New York City, 1963.

His journey back to the early 1960s seems to offer him the chance to start over in a simpler, safer world. But he finds that the tunnel holds a danger far greater than anything he left behind: a human killing machine escaped from a bleak and brutal future, who will do anything to protect the secret passage that he thought was his alone. To preserve his worlds, past and present, Tom Winter must face the terrors of an unknown world to come.

From Robert Charles Wilson, the Hugo Award-winning author of Spin, A Bridge of Years is a classic science fiction story of time-travel and human transformation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765327420
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/06/2011
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	598,464
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Born in California, ROBERT CHARLES WILSON grew up in Canada. He is the author of many acclaimed SF novels including Darwinia, Blind Lake, Julian Comstock, and the Hugo Award–winning Spin.

Editorial Reviews

Wilson transforms a simple time travel novel into a moving reflection on love, despair, and the resilience of the human spirit.” —Publishers Weekly

“Robert Charles Wilson is a hell of a storyteller.” —Stephen King

“Robert Charles Wilson is one of the best science fiction writers alive.” —Rocky Mountain News

From the Publisher

Wilson ( The Divide ) transforms a simple time travel novel into a moving reflection on love, despair and the resilience of the human spirit. Tom Winter is an alcoholic whose wife leaves him for a young environmental activist. In a desperate attempt to rebuild his life, Winter moves back to his hometown in the Pacific Northwest, into a 30-year-old house that is in incredibly good condition--although it has stood dormant for over a decade, no dust has gathered on any of the polished furniture. Winter can't believe his good luck: that is, until the cybernetic custodians of the house reveal themselves and beg for his help to repair the place, which serves as a time-bridge to New York, circa 1962. Despite the custodians' warning, Winter travels back to a New York that is still untouched by the Vietnam War, the Kennedy assassinations and AIDS. Among Greenwich Village's bohemian crowd he falls in love. Unfortunately, a murderous soldier from the future--also hiding in the past--discovers that Winter used the tunnel: the hunt leads back to the present and to an exciting, unexpected climax that proves Wilson is a magician indeed. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Returning to his hometown after a failed marriage, recovering alcoholic Tom Winter purchases a house only to discover that it connects with another time and place--and his desire to ``start over'' suddenly becomes a literal possibility. Wilson ( The Divide , LJ 12/89) excels at psychological suspense, as the spiritual and emotional challenges his characters face are as intense as the physical dangers. A solid addition to any sf collection.

Library Journal

Beautifully turned time-travel yarn from the highly promising author of Gypsies (1988) and The Divide (1990). Engineer Tom Wilson, suffering from divorce and alcoholism, buys a secluded cottage on the northwest coast of the US in which to recuperate and reflect—only to discover that the cottage is one end of a time-tunnel leading to 1963 New York! The tunnel is maintained by weird machine bugs who warn Tom of danger at the tunnel's 1963 end. Tom—of course, he investigates—finds the 1963 end damaged, but goes on to take up residence there and falls in love. Meanwhile, back in 1989, neighbors Doug Archer and Catherine Simmons learn that Billy, a soldier with body armor and deadly weapons, has killed the tunnel's guardians and retreated to 1963 in an attempt to escape the horrors of his native 21st century. Now, some surviving machine bugs have rebuilt the 1989 guardian, Ben Collier, who hails from the 22nd century (beings from still farther in the future actually built the tunnels as a form of historical research). When Billy learns of Tom's arrival in 1963, and Ben's revival in 1989, he decides not only to kill Tom but also to return to 1989 to finish the job, despite his fear of the incorporeal "time ghosts" sometimes to be encountered in the tunnel. So Tom, Ben, Archer, and Catherine gather in 1989, hoping desperately that Ben's miraculous machine bugs can defend them against poor crazed Billy. Logically developed, superbly plotted: altogether a fascinating adventure.

Kirkus Reviews