In 1960, Henry, a professor, dreams of finishing his fantasy novel. Angela, a scientist from the far future, takes his idea and makes a doorway to another world. Rosie, Henry's neighbor, wanders through it.
In this dazzling historical mystery, John Stone, financier and arms dealer, dies falling out of a window at his London home. The quest to uncover the truth behind his death plays out against the backdrop of high-stakes international finance, Europe?s first great age of espionage, and the start of the twentieth century?s arms race.
Robert Grove, a fellow at New College, Oxford in the turbulent 1660s, is found dead in mysterious circumstances, prompting the speculations of four witnesses who each offer a different version of events surrounding the murder.
Celebrated portraitist Henry MacAlpine, retired from the London art scene to an island off the coast of France, accepts a commission in the early 1900s to paint his one-time friend and mentor William Nasmyth, a powerful art critic, but as the session progresses it becomes clear that MacAlpine's feelings toward his subject fall far short of gratitude.
