{"id":9209,"date":"2022-05-01T22:51:58","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T05:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/?page_id=9209"},"modified":"2026-04-04T20:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T03:08:09","slug":"before-the-time-machine","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/books-2\/before-the-time-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"Before the Time Machine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-10696\" style=\"margin-bottom: 16px; margin-right: 16px;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mockupcombonewcover-e1774742767287.png?resize=359%2C325&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Before the Time Machine paperback and ebook\" width=\"359\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mockupcombonewcover-e1774742767287.png?w=1056&amp;ssl=1 1056w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mockupcombonewcover-e1774742767287.png?resize=300%2C272&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mockupcombonewcover-e1774742767287.png?resize=1024%2C928&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mockupcombonewcover-e1774742767287.png?resize=768%2C696&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 359px) 100vw, 359px\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/books2read.com\/beforethetimemachine\"><strong>Buy from a bookseller<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/grousable-books.square.site\/shop\/literaryfiction\/2\"><strong>Buy from the author<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong><br \/>\nA woman out of time, and a man ahead of his<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>What happens when an ordinary historical scholar and an up-and-coming writer of a century before compare notes?<\/p>\n<p>In nineteenth-century England, young H.G. Wells struggles to become a success as a science teacher against the odds of poverty and low social status. But he has a talent for telling stories, and a sense of his own destiny.<\/p>\n<p>Over a century later in California, middle-aged Katherine is a college professor who creates a research project about young Wells solely so she can visit the England she knows from books and television.<\/p>\n<p>He works his way up by making his own opportunities, challenging the systems designed to keep him in his place. She observes the quirkiness of everyday experiences, noting her encounters with strangers, archivists, and cathedral canons, even as she faces challenges in her own life.<\/p>\n<p>They become companions, their journeys punctuated by conversations about life, love, illness, success, learning, death, and self-fulfillment.<\/p>\n<p>Their trajectories converge across time, in a friendship as inspiring as it is unlikely, a story of a women out of time, and a man ahead of his.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-10703\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TransparentGrouseforWebsite.png?resize=52%2C74&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Grouse\" width=\"52\" height=\"74\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TransparentGrouseforWebsite.png?resize=210%2C300&amp;ssl=1 210w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TransparentGrouseforWebsite.png?w=400&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 52px) 100vw, 52px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span class=\"cr-widget-FocalReviews\" data-hook=\"cr-widget-FocalReviews\"><span class=\"a-list-item\"><span class=\"a-size-base review-text\" data-hook=\"review-body\">A compelling story of a friendship that leaves the reader wanting to learn more about Wells and his works.&#8221; &#8211; Bob Mayberry, Amazon<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span class=\"cr-widget-FocalReviews\" data-hook=\"cr-widget-FocalReviews\"><span class=\"a-list-item\"><span class=\"a-size-base review-text\" data-hook=\"review-body\">The writing is whimsical and I felt I was truly there with the author and with Wells himself. I found myself transported and quite taken with the journey and with the character of Wells that develops. Climb inside this book and be transported in so many lovely ways.<\/span><\/span><\/span>&#8221; &#8211; Julie Cord, Amazon<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span class=\"a-list-item\"><span class=\"a-size-base review-text review-text-content\" data-hook=\"review-body\">In a way I felt like I had climbed into a front row seat in Katherine\u2019s head, her eyes my portal to her world and the little voice in her head, constantly narrating, in a stream of consciousness, as my guide through Katherine\u2019s interesting adventures.<\/span><\/span>&#8221; &#8211; Rick Walton, Amazon<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Before the Time Machine<\/strong><br \/>\nNovella, 156 pages<br \/>\nLiterary Fiction \/ Historical Fiction<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">ISBN: 979-8-9853027-0-7 (paperback) 979-8-9853027-1-4 (e-book) 979-8-9869845-3-7 (hardcover)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Library of Congress Control Number: 2021924696<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Buy from a bookseller Buy from the author A woman out of time, and a man ahead of his What happens when an ordinary historical scholar and an up-and-coming writer of a century before compare notes? In nineteenth-century England, young H.G. Wells struggles to become a success as a science teacher against the odds of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":10421,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-fullwidth.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9209","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9209"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10773,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9209\/revisions\/10773"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}