An interesting read. ( )

This novel is a kind that you don't see much of, nowadays. The story develops slowly, and until one gets into it, one might get a bit impatient with the pace of it. The protagonist is a middle-aged college teacher researching the early life of H. G. Wells. At times, she seems to be chatting with him, which only made sense to me later in the story. The book slowly builds, but this is a story where the effort you put into getting into the story is well rewarded. ( )

Two intersecting stories -- that of HG Wells and young Katherine who is researching and writing about him. On the disappointing side 1) there wasn't really any sci-fi in this book; 2) although the characters "talked" to each no time travel took place and it was fictionalized musing and 3) I felt Katherine's character wasn't quite developed enough and her illness went largely unexplained. Given all that, it was still a fun book. I really enjoyed the bits revealed about Well's life, appreciated Katherine's triumphs and difficulties in her research and loved the small, humorous day-to-day mishaps. ( )

This is a novel of two stories - the young years of HG Wells, and the academic wanderings of Katherine who is researching and writing about him. Katherine's story is too vague to be satisfying - what was her mysterious illness? What happens to her in the end? Why does she have no friends or family or anything except her research? The bits about HG Wells are more interesting but overall I felt like the narrative arc was lacking. ( )

An interesting premise - the story of a young HG Wells, coupled with the story of a modern historian working on a book about him. If you're expecting any amount of sci-fi within these pages, you'll be disappointed. Although the author "talks" to Wells, it's more as an imaginary muse than anything else.
I found the parts of the book about Wells' life to be the most interesting and would have gladly read a whole novel just about that. He was an interesting character who seems to have lived quite an interesting life. I felt that the modern sections didn't amount to much -- too much minutiae about her various trips and vague allusions to her being ill. These sections had first person narration but we didn't seem to actually be able to get into the main character's head and know what was truly going on, which I found frustrating.
In all, I think the book would be enjoyable for fans of HG Wells who want to know more about his early life but aren't expecting a book that's in line with his own sci-fi type of fiction. ( )