Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #407771 in Books
• Published on: 1995-05-18
• Binding: Paperback
• 255 pages

Synopsis
The Doctor takes Benny to an English village just before the outbreak of World War I. He has chosen to give up his alien powers, forget his identity, and become human. Benny keeps an eye on the ex-Time Lord as he starts work as a schoolteacher. Which is just as well, as some aliens are in pursuit.

Customer Reviews

Now on TV
Out of print, but recently dramatised.

I read this novel years ago. It's fantastically memorable; one of Paul Cornell's many flashes of genius. Bewildered schoolmaster John Smith finds himself caught up in a battle for life and time when the "Family" arrive in the English countryside, searching for a stranger named the Doctor... Set against the backdrop of Britain on the brink of the first world war, it's a novel crackling with the energy of a burgeoning storm. Questions about war, mortality and what it means to be human spiral into Smith's final dilemma.

*** This novel has also been dramatised in the 'Doctor Who' episodes 'Human Nature' and 'The Family of Blood' (New Series, Season 3, 2007). It's very well done. Watch it.

Back on track..!
After several largely disappointing entries into the New Adventures series Paul Cornell has come up with a cracker. To be honest I hated 'Love and War' and was indifferent to 'No Future'; 'Timewyrm:Revelation' was mildly intriguing but 'Human Nature' is easily his best effort (that I've read so far).
The tantalising concept of The Doctor exchanging his Timelord physiology to become human for a while becomes reality when The Doctor meets a group of renegade aliens. He becomes housemaster at an Etonesque public school and falls in love - the latter is handled well enough to avoid being as awful as it sounds. Meanwhile, Benny becomes involved with a suffragette - with amusing consequences...for a while at least.
This was the first 'New Adventure' that has been a pleasure to read - the reviewer before last must have stumbled erroneously across 'Doctor Who' because there is no way any fanboy (or girl!) could fail to be charmed by The Doctor's whimsical take on humanity and the taut way the narrative strands are woven right to the end.

Fear makes companions of us all
This is a classic Dr. Who tale that attempts to explore what makes the Doctor a hero. The idea of the Time Lord taking a break from himself is novel, but it is the way in which this is handled that makes the book special. The plot which acts as the background to this premise is not as impressive as Cornell's "Revelation", but the character of Dr. John Smith makes up for this. Love, fear and death are the major themes but ultimately the idea of man fighting evil with only his intellect and personality to rely on is why we fell in love with the TV show all those years ago.