21st Century America

Magic has faded from the minds of mankind, until an encounter between Melisande Stokes, linguistics expert at Harvard, and Tristan Lyons, shadowy agent of government, leads to the uncovering of a distant past.

After translating a series of ancient texts, Melisande and Tristan discover the connection between science, magic and time travel and so the Department of Diachronic Operations - D.O.D.O. - is hastily brought into existence. Its mission: to develop a device that will send their agents back to the past, where they can stop magic from disappearing and alter the course of history.

But when you interfere with the past, there's no telling what you might find in your future...

Written with genius and complexity, this vividly realised novel will make you believe the impossible, and question the very foundations of the modern world.

Neal Stephenson is the author of Seveneves, Reamde, Anathem the three-volume historical epic the Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World) Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Zodiac and the iconic Snow Crash, named one of Time magazine's top one hundred all-time best English-language novels. He lives in Seattle, Washington.