The Psychology of Time Travel

Abstract

The novel presents a feminist perspective on the role of women in the 1960’s, by following the works of four women scientists (Barbara, specialised in nuclear fission; Grace, an expert on matter; Margaret, a cosmologist; and Lucille, an inventor specialised in radio-waves) that actively work together to create a time travel machine in their own laboratory, in the Lake District, England. Having succeeded in creating the machine, they are able to travel into the future, and quickly realise that Barbara returns heartbroken and very shaken, putting their project at risk when she decides to share their technological advancements with society via an interview in which her mental instability becomes known to the public. Time travel becomes widely known and eventually, without Barbara, the rest of the group form an organisation – the Conclave – in order to control the advancement of the technology that allows people to meet themselves in the future, and know, for instance, how and when they are going to die.