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Just one damned thing after another
2016
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Where is it?
Fiction/Biography Profile
Characters
Madeline "Max" Maxwell (Female), Historian, Has a PhD in ancient civilizations; joined the St. Mary's Institute of Historical Research; leads a group of historians researching time travel and correcting historical inaccuracies
Genre
Fiction
Science fiction
Historical
Fantasy
Adventure
Mystery
Topics
Time travel
Historians
Friendship
Professors
Competition
Betrayal
Academic life
College faculty
Time Period
2000s -- 21st century
Large Cover Image
Trade Reviews
Library Journal Review
A job interview arranged by a former teachers leads Madeline "Max" Maxwell to a new career as a time-traveling historian with St. Mary's Institute of Historical Research. The researchers are under strict orders to observe only-no interaction with the locals is allowed. But from her first mission rescuing artifacts from the Great Library of Alexandria, Max soon realizes that time travel is a dangerous activity and that history will go to elaborate lengths to protect itself. -VERDICT Taylor does a great job of setting up an appealing cast of characters in this new series opener, most especially the intrepid Max. There is plenty of humor, lots of action, and even a touch of romance. Six more entries are out in the UK and due to be published here in the next year.-MM © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publishers Weekly Review
The first novel in Taylor's Chronicles of St. Mary's series (of which six volumes have been published in the U.K., with more forthcoming) takes readers on a carnival ride through laughter and tears with a bit of time travel thrown in for spice. St. Mary's Institute of Historical Research is kind of, but not quite, attached to England's Thirsk University; it's dependent on the educational institution for funding and ostensibly receives some oversight. But St. Mary's has its own mission to undertake. The Historians, aided by a phalanx of support personnel, are tasked with traveling throughout the past and reporting their findings. They're restricted to observation only, with minimal interaction. Madeleine "Max" Maxwell, an expert in the field of history, finds herself pulled into the institute's chaotic orbit, and she brings her own special brand of madcap innovation. Of course, her introduction to time travel doesn't go smoothly, especially as several people are out to destroy St. Mary's and all within its hallowed walls. The humor is plentiful, but the comic situations aren't overly exaggerated. Max's world is depicted in lush detail, mixed with appropriately interesting historical tidbits. U.S. readers will be impatient for later installments to make their way across the Atlantic. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Summary
The first book in the USA Today bestselling British madcap time-travelling series, served with a dash of wit that seems to be everyone's cup of tea.

"History is just one damned thing after another." --Arnold Toynbee

Behind the seemingly innocuous facade of St. Mary's Institute of Historical Research, a different kind of academic work is taking place. Just don't call it "time travel"--these historians "investigate major historical events in contemporary time." And they aren't your harmless eccentrics either; a more accurate description, as they ricochet around history, might be unintentional disaster-magnets.

The first thing you learn on the job at St. Mary's is that one wrong move and history will fight back--sometimes in particularly nasty ways. But, as new recruit Madeleine Maxwell soon discovers, it's not only history they're often fighting.

The Chronicles of St. Mary's tells the chaotic adventures of Max and her compatriots--Director Bairstow, Chief Leon Farrell, Mr. Markham, and many more--as they travel through time, saving St. Mary's (too often by the very seat of their pants) and thwarting time-travelling terrorists, all the while leaving plenty of time for tea.

From eleventh-century London to World War I, from the Cretaceous Period to the destruction of the Great Library at Alexandria, one thing is for sure: wherever the historians at St. Mary's go, chaos is sure to follow in their wake.

Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.
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