The Witches of Chiswick, by Robert Rankin

Retrieved from: my library
(0575073144), 2003
Suggested by: me, when I cataloged it
My Ratings: 6 Merit, 8 Interest, 7 Fun

What a strange book. If you are into time travel, conspiracy theories and weirdness, this is a book for you. Having read another of Rankin's books, I was pretty aware of how twisted his mind is. This is not a sequel in any way related to the Chocolate Bunnies, but a completely different alternate universe.

Basically, the plot revolves around Will, who is way too interested in the 19th century for his own good. He lives in the 22nd century, in a world that doesn't seem to fit him at all. As a result of him being too nosy at his job, he is assaulted by robots and eventually goes back to the 1880s where he finds that everything we think we know about the Victorians is wrong: they actually had electrical power and digitalization, flying machines and robots. But it all got hushed up by the very powerful (and still powerful in his own time) Chiswick Townswomen's Guild (a.k.a. the witches of Chiswick).

Jack the Ripper is a robot. H.G. Wells is invisible. Queen Victoria was a bit of a nymphomaniac.

Clever, but somehow not as satisfying as it sounds.