The Outcasts of Time

A beautifully written trip through time

Preview

Failed to add items

Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.

Add to basket failed.

Please try again later

Add to wishlist failed.

Please try again later

Remove from wishlist failed.

Please try again later

Adding to library failed

Please try again

Follow podcast failed

Unfollow podcast failed

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.

Try for £0.00

More purchase options

The Outcasts of Time

By: Ian Mortimer

Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards

Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.79

Summary

‘Beautifully written and superbly executed’ Times
'A joyous romp around England’s dark past' Suzie Feay, Guardian

From the author of the bestselling The Time Traveller's Guide to Restoration Britain, this is a stunningly high-concept historical novel that is both as daring as it is gripping, and perfect for fans of Conn Iggulden, SJ Parris and Kate Mosse.

December 1348: With the country in the grip of the Black Death, brothers John and William fear that they will shortly die and go to Hell. But as the end draws near, they are given an unexpected choice: either to go home and spend their last six days in their familiar world, or to search for salvation across the forthcoming centuries – living each one of their remaining days ninety-nine years after the last.

John and William choose the future and find themselves in 1447, ignorant of almost everything going on around them. The year 1546 brings no more comfort, and 1645 challenges them still further. It is not just that technology is changing: things they have taken for granted all their lives prove to be short-lived.

As they find themselves in stranger and stranger times, the reader travels with them, seeing the world through their eyes as it shifts through disease, progress, enlightenment and war. But their time is running out – can they do something to redeem themselves before the six days are up?

What people are saying about The Outcasts of Time:
‘Wow, what a book! I absolutely adored this. This was ambitious but done to perfection’ Sara Marsden
‘The Outcasts of Time is a tour de force, rich in spellbinding detail. Haunting and atmospheric, there is warmth and humour alongside fear and torment; all human life is here. As perfect a novel as any I've ever read’ Ophelia’s Reads
'A fascinating trip through seven centuries of history ... The author has done well to traverse such a sweep of time ... it's a great read and I'd recommend it' Netgalley reviewer, 4 stars

Ian MortimerBarnaby EdwardsSimon & Schuster Audio UK

Action & Adventure

Family Life

Fiction

Genre Fiction

Historical Fiction

Science Fiction

Time Travel

Thought-Provoking

Scary

Middle Ages

Action & Adventure Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Science Fiction Time Travel Thought-Provoking Scary Middle Ages

Most relevant

This is a tricky book to review and I’m not even very clear how I feel about it. I actually admire an author who tries to do something different and, with the moral overtones being quite unsubtle, Ian Mortimer has been brave in producing an unfashionable novel.

I THINK he was going for a kind of Pilgrim’s Progress type structure although, in this book, the pilgrimage is through time, several centuries, in fact. What confuses me is that the motivation is not always clear and the philosophical messages, if I’m honest, aren’t very weighty. Ultimately, the authorial directive seems to be that we can all achieve grace through trying to do good deeds for one's fellow humans - hardly revelatory. So, as an historian, was Mortimer actually attempting to be instructive? If so it wasn't very successful. The narrative comes across as rather formulaic and repetitive and focusses on trivialities. That is why the writer’s motivation is confusing - if the moral message is secondary then is this novel just a descriptive lecture about the changing nature of our country, along the lines of the docu-dramas that seem to be quite popular on our screens? I am not sure.

The narrator did a pretty good job in jollying us along, by the way.

In the end, I had to think hard about why I didn’t love this novel. It is not because I do not like hearing sermons - I am always open to hearing philosophical or theological lessons providing it is robust and convincing. Neither is it because I don’t need to know what undergarments or washing implements my forbears used. I am open to new learning provided it is more than I already know or can imagine. Then I had my answer: my indifference to this book was because Mortimer just didn’t challenge me: He didn’t enlighten me, he didn’t teach me, he didn’t motivate or inspire me. Not remotely.