In a nutshell: This is the extraordinary story of Wheeler Burden, the California-exiled heir of the Boston banking Burdens. Burden, a philosopher, student of history, reader of Victor Hugo, son of a legend, rock star, writer and Harvard baseball hero, is 47 and living in San Francisco when he finds himself suddenly whisked away from the 1980s to 1897 Vienna.

He meets Sigmund Freud, falls in love, gains insight into his war-hero father — but the real reason for his strange dislocation does not become evident until the end. But the connectedness of all things is worth waiting for.

This novel, written and rewritten over 30 years, shows the rich imagination and the intellectual fire of the first-time author, a former English teacher and headmaster at several private schools. It would not be surprising to see this book become a classic.