The year is 2057 and the latest holiday craze is to be a time tourist – to travel back in time to experience the past on a first hand basis. Each tourist has a limited time that they can stay in the past (to reduce the likelihood of them changing the past and affecting the future). If they do not return on schedule then a Time Rover is despatched to being them back to the present.

Jacynda Lassiter is a Time Rover and she has been sent back to Victorian London to retrieve an overdue tourist but this turns out to be more than just a simple tardy retrieval. When a fellow Rover is murdered Jacynda realises that someone is out there intent on changing history and not just any point in history – he intends the identity of Jack the Ripper to be revealed.

Forced to admit her true identity Jacynda finds she has two allies in the shape of two Victorian gentlemen but are they as innocent as they first seem or do they have their own secrets to hide?

There are many time travel books and TV shows out there and most of them are very similar in nature. Sojourn is something a bit different. It combines time tourism with the Ripper stories and giving a multi-layered murder mystery. And this is not just a case of a bad guy going back in time to set someone up as the Ripper. There are additional characters with their own stories and secrets to be explored. One aspect I did find interesting is the way that she didn't just assume that Jacynda would be able to fit into Victorian England without any difficulties. As you might expect from someone who has travelled two hundred years into the past she finds it a little tricky to just assume the role of a woman in that world.

In this book Jana Oliver has created a complex world that combines science fiction with dark fantasy in an original refreshing novel. She has obviously done considerable research into Victorian London giving her story an authenticity and solid foundation from which she has created a superb tale. Jana Oliver is a name that I will look out for in the future as I am sure her writing will go from strength to strength.

Although she's starting to suffer the effects of too much time travel, Cynda Lassiter takes the assignment to go back to London 1888 so she can return a wayward tourist to 2057 before he can compromise the continuity of time. Finding someone who does not want to be found is not simple, and things are complicated by the fact that she has landed right where and when Jack the Ripper's spree of terror is taking place and the fact that back home, her bosses have just gone under.

Her love life is another twist in the knot; the man she is involved with is also missing in 1888, and two men, both of whom might be Ripper suspects, are interested in Cynda. Even after she is able to return home, things have not been solved by a long-shot. The wayward tourist is still wrecking havoc and Cynda has to stop him for greater reasons that she could ever have suspected when this began.

This is a fascinating take on the time-travel concept. Cynda is a very believable heroine who is easy to care what happens to. Moreover, the mystery is intriguing enough to make you want to see what happens in the next book.

Synopsis
London, September 1888.

An aged Queen Victoria rules. The threat of anarchy hovers in the air. A new kind of evil lurks in the back alleys of Whitechapel. Enter Jacynda Lassiter, a Time Rover on a mission-find an overdue 'tourist' and return him to 2057 before he changes history.

Victorian London is a dangerous place for the unwary. Mysterious shape-shifters haunt the streets, making friend and foe indistinguishable. When a fellow Time Rover is murdered, Jacynda's mission becomes personal. Can she trust the two gentlemen who come to her aid, or do they harbor their own dark secrets?

In a few days, Jack the Ripper will add to his bloody legacy. But old Jack isn't the only threat in Whitechapel. Unless Jacynda can outwit a madman, her Victorian sojourn will rewrite history-and end at the point of a blade.

I found it an immense challenge to weave fact with fiction, especially covering such well-explored ground as the Ripper murders. As a number of my friends are 'Ripperologists', the facts had to be right. But no matter how accurate the historical detail, the book had to grab the reader and deprive them of a good night's sleep. I feel I've succeeded on all accounts.