Michael Lawrence originally trained as a graphic designer and photographer, but subsequently became a television script reader, press officer, an art and antiques dealer, a painter and sculptor, and several other things he would rather not talk about. His first book, a novel for children, was published in 1995. He is now a full time author, creator of the bestselling and ever-popular Jiggy McCue books, and the Aldous Lexicon trilogy.
Gr 8 Up-A Crack in the Line (HarperCollins, 2004), the first book in this trilogy, introduced Alaric and Naia Underwood, 16-year-olds who share the same surname, birthday, and residence as well as similar physical characteristics, yet live in separate, distinct, parallel realities. They were unaware of one another's existence until they passed through a portal and began living the other's life. This second title finds the teens still caught in the wrong realities, but they now are repeatedly transported to yet another reality in the mid-1940s, when their family home is inhabited by the Underwoods of two generations past. In this reality, they witness their grandfather and his siblings as children, and Alaric is presented with the opportunity to prevent his great-uncle's untimely death. The "small eternities" are closed segments of time in history that continue on forever, unchanging. Throughout the book, Alaric, Naia, and the mysterious vagrant Aldous make numerous forays into an assortment of small eternities, each time witnessing an alternative reality. In a similar vein of William Sleator's The Last Universe (Abrams, 2005), this thought-provoking novel explores the uncertainty of destiny and chance and its impact upon people's lives. The myriad realities result in a somewhat convoluted story line, and readers may find themselves flipping back through the pages in order to clarify details or events. However, the payoff is well worth the effort in this complex story of metaphysics and fate.-Debbie Lewis O'Donnell, Alachua County Library District, Gainesville, FL Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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