by Paul Park
First published 2014
The Park family's story unfolds across three different Americas, each shaped by pivotal moments in history. In post-Civil War Virginia, the family navigates a divided nation where the Queen of the North has brokered an uneasy peace between two separate countries. The Battle of the Crater casts its shadow over this reconstructed world. In a second timeline, the Parks find themselves in northwestern Massachusetts during World War II, entangled in a classified government project that blurs the lines between science and warfare. The third reality places them in a near-future United States where alien visitors walk among humans, their presence reshaping society in unexpected ways. Each timeline reveals different facets of the same family, their choices echoing across parallel worlds. The three stories weave together, showing how individual lives bend under the weight of historical forces, whether human or otherworldly. Park examines how family bonds endure even when history itself takes radically different paths.
Genres: family, science-fiction, historical-fiction, alternate-history
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, parallel-timelines
Setting: Virginia, Massachusetts, United States
Period: Post-Civil War, World War II, Near-Future
272 pages · Hardcover · Tor Books