Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove combine their immense skills on a fascinating, thought- provoking and unforgettable novel that is sure to provide them with much acclaim. You might just get it. Nicole Gunther-Perrin has had a bad day. She wakes up in the 2nd Century AD, in the body of a tavern-keeping ancestress, in a small Roman town on the Danube. She soon discovers just how good she had it in 20th Century America.
Violence is immediate, commonplace, and a subject of entertainment.
Sanitation is spotty, and alcohol is the only safe thing to drink. Her ancestress has a lover whose business requires collecting urine from passersby. And Nicole's 20th-Century knowledge doesn't give her the ability to remedy any of these things, although her customers at the taberna do notice she's come up with a really good new way to fry fish. Well, it won't rival Gone With the Wind for character development, although the historical detail is similarly evocative. You won't be disappointed.