This new D.C.-based novel reimagines Metro as a portal through time
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Image: Courtesy of Penguin Random House
A new novel is out this week that's partly based in D.C. and reimagines the Metro as a time-traveling portal.
Why it matters: Who among us hasn't wanted to escape reality while riding the Red Line…
State of play: Retro, written by D.C. journalist Jessica M. Goldstein, is out June 23. It follows Ash, an out-of-work actress who takes a job at a time travel start-up that lets wealthy clients party in the past. Think: bachelorette parties in the Wild West, or birthday shindigs at Roaring '20s speakeasies.
- All is going well until strange things start happening to Ash that make her question whether it's best to keep the past in the past.
What they're saying: "I loved the idea of combining the absurdities of office culture with the zaniness of time travel," says Goldstein, who's written for local publications like Washingtonian and the Washington Post.
- "Just the idea of a guy in a Viking helmet, he's splattered with blood, but he's in a conference room being reamed out for not properly submitting his PTO."
- She was also partly inspired by the current cultural fixation with nostalgia, from Y2K fashion to TV reboots. "What does it do to us to spend all of our time thinking about the past when the future is the only place that we're actually going to go?," she says.
Zoom in: Retro clients visit said past by riding the Retro Metro, which was inspired by D.C.'s transit system. Retro has corporate housing for all its employees in Old Town.
- And you can't write a real D.C. book without a little NIMBY cameo: The fictional Old Town locals make a stink about Retro building something new in a historic area, says Goldstein — so the company travels back in time to get period-authentic building materials.
Check it out: Goldstein will be hosting local book events June 22 at Alexandria's Old Town Books, June 25 at Union Market's Politics & Prose, and July 9 at Bethesda's Wonderland Books.