Twilight in Babylon

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY OCT 28, 2002

The final installment in Frank's time traveler series picks up where Sunrise on the Mediterraneanleft off, but those who haven't read the previous books will struggle for a foothold in this ever-shifting quagmire of names, places and customs. By some unexplained means, Chloe Kingsley, a 20th-century American time traveler, lands in the body of a Mesopotamian marsh girl just in time to survive a flood of biblical proportions. Taking these events in stride, Chloe strikes out across the water-logged land until she reaches the city of Ur. The people of Ur have judicial and educational systems, but their society is patriarchal and Chloe promptly decides to change that. Meanwhile, Chloe's husband, Cheftu, winds up in the body of Ur's high priest of fertility and sets about trying to find his wife. In an author's note, Frank admits to jumbling her facts, and it shows. Amidst the profusion of biblical references, secondary characters and dodgy details (the people seal clay documents in clay "envelopes" and are obsessed with beer), a picture of a curiously modern yet primitive society emerges. While archeologists may balk at this bold depiction of ancient life, Frank's cinematic prose brings her bizarre civilization to vivid life.