SOJALS rating:

Good (3/5)

I first read this in May 1991 and most recently on the 11th February 2011

Karen had a tough childhood but she'd made a normal life for herself. Her husband Gavin has left her but she has her beloved son, Michael. Now Michael sees the Grey Man, the same Gray Man that has haunted Karen all her life. Karen knows it's time to run. She takes off with Michael to meet her sister Laura. Together Karen and Laura rediscover the secret of their youth. That secret is stupendous - when they were young they could change worlds as easily as blinking. That is why the Grey Man chases her and now it seems he is chasing Michael.

Across the multiworlds of the Plenum, they flee and search for a better world, but are dragged back to the dark, brutality of a world where Islam laps at Sicily and to sustain the Holy Roman Empire, the Vatican desperately needs the evil fruits of heretic America's dark research.

Wow, this was an enjoyable and occasionally lyrical novel, especially with the surprising interjections of viewpoints from the various characters.