A New York Times Bestselling AuthorA Hugo and Nebula Award-winning AuthorIn 2057 Oxford, historical research is conducted through travel to the past. Unfortunately, Lady Schrapnell has commandeered all researchers to locate items to restore the Coventry Cathedral. Our intrepid time traveler, Ned Henry, has been sent throughout history to recover an obscure, and appropriately hideous, Victorian bird stump. Exhausted from too many jumps through time, he is sent back to 1889 Oxford to regroup, boat along the river, and return an item accidentally brought forward in time. Trouble is, Ned has no idea what he is supposed to do or why the enchanting Verity Brown knows about time travel. Together, Ned and Verity attempt to correct an incongruity that might collapse the space time continuum, while cavorting about literary Oxford. Throughout this amusing combination of mystery and science fiction, the time travelers refer to classic works of fiction based in Victorian England.