THE DAY ROME WAS BUILT

Debut dystopian novel for the older set, with a strong base in historical fiction.

Ninety-eight-year-old Herman Rosenfeld awakes at a nursing home in 1997. The first thing he notices is that he isn’t in the same nursing home in which he went to sleep, and while his troublesome hip has improved, his hearing has deteriorated. But these changes seem trivial after he discovers that in his new world, the United States is racially segregated. With the help of Josh, a grandson Herman does not remember, he finds an almanac and learns more terrifying facts: The post–World War II world order is not as he recalls. The New Roman Empire occupies much of the territory once ruled by the old Roman Empire; now, though, it’s a fascist state, with the German Reich occupying territory to the north. Herman convinces Josh to accompany him on a buying trip to Rome so that Herman might meet with Vito Armini, an acquaintance from many years ago whom Herman suspects might be able to explain the situation. Herman is right: Vito had discovered the secret to the Ark of the Covenant—which allows a person to travel through time to a past self—and used it for personal gain. While Josh believes he is humoring his grandfather by supposing that a meeting with fabulously wealthy world leader Armini might be possible, Armini actually summons Herman, who tries to convince him to return the world to its proper reality. Despite its brevity, Davis’ story incorporates lengthy passages from other fictional texts that slow the pace of the story; the Levantine movement, for example, while crucial to the plot, doesn’t need to be described in such excruciating detail. Character development, other than the megalomaniac Vito, is lacking, even though the story is told in first person. The novel would also benefit from more development in plot and setting, but savvy readers may appreciate the prescient warnings found in the work’s premise.

Quick but weighty read that fans of dystopian and historical fiction will enjoy.