Michael Miner, the Chicago media columnist
writes:<p>
Many great novels wander through time, but the characters usually stay put. Josh Winkler, the hero of Charles Dickinson's A Shortcut in Time, follows his daughter back to 1918, altering events while he's there just enough to change every life around him in the here and now. I suppose I could say this novel is about a father's relentless love for his daughter, and about how it is that some wives are more willing than others to keep faith with a lunatic.
Dickinson works nights at the Tribune. He sits on the metro copy desk. Copy editors are indispensable to a newspaper but totally unsung, and many are marked by a sense of grievance. Dickinson's the very rare copy editor to make a name for himself.