After witnessing the onset of an astronomical event that has caused the sun to go black and the stars and moon to disappear, Tyler, Jason, and Diane learn that the darkness has been caused by a time-altering, alien-created artificial barrier and that the sun will be extinguished in less than forty years.
Three friends grow up on a bizarrely altered Earth in this sweeping SF novel. Mysterious alien beings enclose the Earth inside a barrier, cutting it off from the stars and moon. While the sun continues to heat the Earth, it can no longer be seen properly. Far more alarming is the discovery that time passes far more slowly on Earth than it does beyond the barrier--about 100 million times more slowly--and the sun is scheduled to burn out in a few decades. As scientist Jason Lawton races against the artificially accelerated clock in a desperate attempt to preserve life on Earth, his sister Diane and his friend Tyler find their own ways to deal with the looming catastrophe.
- Genre: Science Fiction + Fantasy, Fiction + Literature Themes
- Subgenre: Family + Friendship, Apocalypse, Religion + Beliefs, Alien Beings, Stages of Life
- Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
- Pages: 454
- Edition: Reissue
- Language: English
- Format: paperback
- Release Date: February 1, 2006
- Date Published: February 1, 2006
- Author: Robert Charles Wilson