''Time After Time'' is a novel by

Allen Appel Allen Appel (born January 6, 1945) is an American novelist best known for his series about time traveler Alex Balfour. In the series, fictional characters are interwoven with actual historical people and events. Born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Ap ...

, first published in 1985 by

Carroll & Graf Carroll & Graf Publishers was an American publishing company based in New York City, New York, known for publishing a wide range of fiction and non-fiction by both new and established authors, as well as issuing reprints of previously hard-t ...

. It launched the ''Alex Balfour'' series of time travel novels, which the author usually refers to as the "Pastmaster" series.

Characters and story

The story follows New School history professor Alex Balfour as he is tossed back and forth between present-day

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

. Seeking an explanation for his unusual situation, Alex attempts to save Czar Nicholas and his family. In the course of the novel, he encounters

Ivan Pavlov Ivan Petrovich Pavlov ( rus, Ива́н Петро́вич Па́влов, , p=ɪˈvan pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈpavləf, a=Ru-Ivan_Petrovich_Pavlov.ogg; 27 February 1936), was a Russian and Soviet experimental neurologist, psychologist and physiol ...

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

and

Grigory Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (; rus, links=no, Григорий Ефимович Распутин ; – ) was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, thus ga ...

. Along with favorable reviews, the novel received recognition from the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

as one of the Best Young Adult Novels of the Yea

The novel gained more readers with a 1987 Dell Laurel Leaf edition displaying cover art by renowned illustrator

Fred Marcellino Fred Marcellino (October 25, 1939 – July 12, 2001) was an American illustrator and later an author of Children's literature, children's books who was very influential in the book industry. Publisher Nan Talese said that Marcellino could "in on ...

, and it was reprinted again as a Dell mass-market paperback in 1990. Other books in the series are ''Twice Upon a Time'' (1988), an American Library Association nominee in the Best Young Adult Novels of the Year category, and ''Till the End of Time'' (1990), another ALA nominee. ''In Time of War'' (2003) takes place during the American Civil War. ''Sea of Time'', set aboard the Titanic, was written in 1987 but never published.

External links

Allen Appel's ''Time After Time''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Time After Time (Appel Novel) 1985 American novels Novels about time travel 1985 science fiction novels American science fiction novels Children's science fiction novels Fiction set in 1917 Novels set in the Russian Revolution 1985 debut novels Carroll & Graf books