Map of Time (Palma)

Book Reviews
The idea of sending H.G. Wells, the father of science fiction, to catch the most notorious killer of the Victorian age is so delicious it’s surprising that nobody has come up with it before — except that they have.... Spanish writer Felix J. Palma’s first novel published in the United States, The Map of Time, is such a big, genre-bending delight—and his sly execution is so different from [previous authors' plots]—that I can’t imagine anyone crying foul. And, besides, Wells and the Ripper are just one storyline in this science-fiction, historical, fantasy doorstopper. In addition to Wells, Joseph Merrick (the Elephant Man), Henry James and Bram Stoker all make appearances by the end of the three-part novel. And presiding over these time-trotting shenanigans is a fourth-wall-shattering narrator with a taste for overly arch comments.
Yvonne Zipp - Washington Post


Palma uses the basic ingredients of steampunk — fantasy, mystery, ripping adventure and Victorian-era high-tech — to marvelous effect.
Seattle Times


After 611 pages, I was awestruck. All these plots, all these mysteries, all this lovely writing! By Jove, he's got it!
Cleveland Plain Dealer


Spanish author Palma makes his U.S. debut with the brilliant first in a trilogy, an intriguing thriller that explores the ramifications of time travel in three intersecting narratives. In the opening chapter, set in 1896 England, aristocratic Andrew Harrington plans to take his own life, despondent over the death years earlier of his lover, the last victim of Jack the Ripper. Meanwhile, 21-year-old Claire Haggerty plots to escape her restrictive role as a woman in Victorian society by journeying to the year 2000. A new commercial concern, Murray's Time Travel, offers such a trip for a hefty fee. Finally, Scotland Yarder Colin Garrett believes that the fatal wound on a murder victim could only have been caused by a weapon from the future. Linking all three stories is H.G. Wells, the author of The Time Machine. Palma brings Wells and other historical figures like Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man, plausibly to life.
Publishers Weekly


This story starts out like a classically tragic Victorian romance. Andrew Harrington is a privileged son, basking in a life of luxury until the portrait of a Whitechapel prostitute named Marie changes his life forever. When Jack the Ripper destroys Andrew's newfound happiness, he seeks a way to save his Marie through time travel. H.G. Wells's The Time Machine has sparked the imagination of the public, and the author himself becomes involved in what turns out to be a tangle of parallel stories and times, truth and elaborate illusion. Verdict: Lyrical storytelling and a rich attention to detail make this prize-winning novel by an acclaimed Spanish author an enthralling read. It is a wonderful blend of genres (sci-fi, steampunk, mystery, romance, historical fantasy) and will appeal to fans of historical fiction as well as fantasy. —April Steenburgh, Endwell, NY
Library Journal


H.G. Wells meets Jack the Ripper, the Elephant Man and a historical dimension's worth of other figures in this imaginative novel by Spanish writer Palma. The author is an acclaimed writer in his native country, winning the esteemed Ateneo de Sevilla XLPrize for this novel, his first to be published in the United States. At the heart of the story is a question that has fascinated geeks since the beginning of time, or least since Einstein's day—namely, is it possible to travel through time and, moreover, to violate the prime directive and tinker with events of the past and perhaps even future, reshaping lives and altering the course of history? In this instance, that question haunts a melancholic Briton whose lover, a naughty person of the night, was summarily dispatched by a serial killer working under the cover of the London fog. So obsessed is he by the desire to turn back the clock that he opens himself up to the possibilities of bamboozling. Enter H.G. Wells, who is introduced into young Andrew Harrington's sorrowful tale in leisurely time as both a "celebrated author" and "painfully thin and having a deathly pallor," the result, perhaps, of too much hard thinking—particularly about such things as machines that can take a person across the firmament of time. Is Wells a crackpot? Is time travel an elaborate con? Such questions emerge continually throughout Palma's winding narrative. Now, it has to be said that Karl Alexander beat Palma to the punch with his novel Time After Time (1979), which pits—well, H.G. Wells against Jack the Ripper. Palma's book has the wider reach, however, as well as a harder scientific edge. Palma is also a master of ingenious plotting, and his tale takes in far more than a simple game of cat and mouse: Even the most careful reader won't foresee some of the twists here, and there are plenty of them. Palma wanders in and out of genres—is his book science fiction? literary fiction? fantasy? Whatever the answer, it's great fun to read, particularly for those with a bent for counterfactual history.
Kirkus Reviews