The Wages of Sin

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Nominee for Sidewise Award. </strong><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were established in 1995 to recognize the best alternate history stories and novels of the year.</span></p><p></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>A terrifying tale about HIV spreading in the early sixteenth century by an author <em>Publisher Weekly</em> calls The Master of Alternate History.</strong></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>What if HIV started spreading in the early 1500s rather than the late 1900s? Without modern medicine anybody who catches HIV is going to die.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>A patriarchal society reacts to this devastating disease in the only way it knows how: it sequesters women as much as possible limiting contacts between the sexes except for married couples. While imperfect such drastic actions do limit the spread of the disease.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>The 'Wasting' (HIV) has caused devasting destruction throughout the known world and severely limited the development of technology as well creating a mid-nineteenth century England and London almost unrecognizable to us. This is the world Viola is born into. Extremely intelligent and growing up in a house full of medical books which she reads she dreams of travelling to far-off places something she can only do via books since her actions and movements are severely restricted by both law custom.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(51 51 51 1)>Meticulously researched and exquisitely detailed in a way only a master like Harry Turtledove can do this book is a tour-de-force from one of the best historical and alternate history writers ever to write in the genre.</span></p><p></p>