Isaac Newton's 21st Century Entanglement by Noel Hodson

He was time-shifted, into this fascinating if alarming future, and at root he did want to go home; he was aware of homesickness and did not want to be stranded far from his familiar haunts and habits. He had been transported against all reason and without his permission; a transport which might affect him physically... He was aware, at a subconscious, dream-like level that he was in two, perhaps three places simultaneously; with tremendous energies linking and flowing between the locations - all focused on body and mind.

Isaac Newton's 21st Century Entanglement by Noel Hodson is a genius combination of science fiction, time travel, history and geekiness.

Waking up in the future would be one of my worst scenario (hyphothetical) nightmares.
All the scary unknown of technology, social norms and regimes would leave you dizzy and disoriented.
That's how Isaac Newton feels when one cold morning he finds himself transported to the 21st century. One day he is quietly studying prisms and light in the laboratory at his family's farm at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, where he is escaping the bubonic plague of 1666, the next day he is sitting on the banks of the river Withan, observing a strange-looking boy.

Isaac can recognise the river, but everything else - the fields, the trees, the road - had changed.
Archie is not alarmed to meet an odd character, who he presumes has special needs (or as he puts it, "Care-in-the-community"). He generously shares his food with the stranger and answers the avalanche of questions. Once they both realise that Isaac has been transported to 2018, Archie calls him a Time Traveller very matter-of-factly.

It so happens that both Isaac and Archie are quantumly entangled. The scientists at Cambridge who try to untangle the problem and prevent the nuclear disaster come to a conclusion that "Newton time-shifted. Newton entangled at a quantum level... And he has to be entangled in his Time and our Time. He IS Schrödinger's cat. Both here and not here. A quantum bridge from past to present and back to the past again. Which is channelling the radiation!"
"And young Archie!" queried MacDonald.
"He is "The Observer", cut in Hooke drily. "Archie has somehow opened the box and observed that Newton is alive and present. Newton's presence here requires Archie's intelligent observation."

Newton is overwhelmed and over-stimulated by the modern technology. "Most of all, however, overmastering all else - he was curious. He wanted to know. In this future-scape of miraculous technologies, he was greedy for knowledge. Greedy for scientific miracles and explanations that he could take back three hundred years to his college and colleagues. But at what cost? And at what risk?"

He feels a responsibility to assist Hooke's team at Cambridge "to tame the invisible powers, which he could feel coursing through... no, not just through his body, but through his being, his very essence".

Riding the timelines is an unprecedented and unique business. Since Isaac and Archie are entangled, return back to the 17C doesn't proceed smoothly. The 21st C boy finds himself amidst the major epidemic of 1666, where his unusual appearance and modern gadgets trigger the accusations of sorcery and witchcraft.

Newton and Archie go on the run back to the college to try to find the solution and return Archie to his own timeline. At present, the Cambridge team are working on bringing the child back to his mother. Will their combined efforts succeed?

The time travel element in the book is explained in great detail, and would appeal to geeks of all ages. I can't say I understood every single bit (and I did have to re-read some scientific chains of thought).

There is plenty of humour in this book, when our main protagonists find themselves in the "wrong" timelines and are trying to comprehend how to cope in the strange circumstances. The Cambridge team is portrayed with a certain level of sarcasm, and if you're familiar with the academic world, you can't but chuckle at the spot-on portrayal of some pompous, self-centred academics.

I enjoyed this book. Isaac Newton's 21st Century Entanglement is a well-plotted, thought-provoking and clever read with a splendid twist at the end. Great fun.

Disclosure: I received an ARC for the purposes of reviewing. All opinions are mine.