One of the many things I do at my new library job is put the plastic protective covers on new books. I like to read the book flaps as I’m covering, and that’s how I found this book:

(image from Amazon.com)

The Future of Another Timeline, by Annalee Newitz.

Assuming our own future turns out reasonable, which I do not assume, I think it won’t be long before this book is part of a college literature class on books written as a result of the 2016 election and all the accompanying madness. I felt similarly when reading The Power, by Naomi Alderman. Fiction gives us an interesting way to look back at what the issues of the time were, and the fears, and the hopes, and the revenge fantasies.

This is a time-travel book. One group of travelers, The Daughters of Harriet, is attempting to prevent an outcome in the future of their own timeline, where women don’t have the right to vote and are powerless non-citizens used only for breeding and service. Another group of travelers, called Comstockers, are working on preserving that future and also breaking the time-travel devices so that their edits to history can never be undone. It’s a suspenseful race.

I found the sections about the time-travel machines and how they worked to be dull, but I know there are other people who love that stuff. I skimmed those sections, and skipped to the more riveting flashbacks of the story of teenagers Lizzy, Heather, Soonjin, and Beth, and their connection to our current-time grown-woman protagonist Tess.

The underlying message of the book is that no one person can change history; only vast group efforts can change our timeline. It’s not subtle, and it’s invigorating. To use the cliche, it’s a parable for our times. Also, there are some similarly invigorating revenge scenes where terrible men get what’s coming to them.

I’m adding this book to my list of Gift Ideas for Pissed-Off Progressive Women.