This book looks at WW2 from a German (non-Jewish) perspective and how the war affected the life of a village. I got a lot more out of the book after our club met and discussed.

The promise of a story about time travel, victorian times, HG Wells, and automatons is certainly intriguing but Palma fell short in his execution. This book is actually 3 books in one. It starts out very slow and it took every thing in me to keep reading past the first chapter or 2. The stories meander and are convoluted (lots of gratuitous information that I, for one, could have done without!) ... and highly unbelievable and predictable! His use of an "omniscience" narrator was disruptive and annoying ... it may have worked if the narrator had become a character in the story later on to explain his omniscience (maybe). This book is in desperate need of an editor.

P.G. Wodehouse is a master at humor. But what is so amazing about his stories is how he takes one very minor event and shows how that event changes many, many lives. His characters are immensely likable and, in some cases, very relatable. And his humor is always G-rated.

The author does a really good job capturing the reader's interest right off the bat. It is an intriguing story with a lot of moral/ethical issues. Would have really liked a more optimistic ending, though.