First published 2010
Neanderthal physicist Ponter Boddit steps back into our world, where his relationship with geneticist Mary Vaughan continues to develop. Cultural exchanges between the two Earths begin in earnest as Ponter navigates daily life in a civilization built by Homo sapiens. Meanwhile, Mary experiences the radically different world where Neanderthals became the dominant intelligent species and Homo sapiens died out. The two parallel societies reveal their contrasting moral frameworks and social choices. Sawyer presents readers with civilizations that made fundamentally different decisions about how to organize their worlds. Through Ponter and Mary's relationship, the story explores what happens when two equally valid but opposing ways of life encounter each other. The novel examines contemporary human assumptions by showing alternatives that developed along entirely different paths.
Genres: science-fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, alternate-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Earth
Period: Contemporary
384 pages · Kindle Edition · Tor Books