About the book: 2024 / Winner of the Hugo and Aurora awards. Two unique human species. Homo sapiens and Homo Neanderthal. It was the Neanderthals who became the dominant species in the parallel world. Their civilization is comparable to ours, their science and technology are more highly developed, and their culture, society and philosophy are radically different. Ponter Boddett, a Neanderthal physicist, accidentally breaks the barrier between worlds and is transported to our universe. Almost immediately he is recognized as a Neanderthal, and only later as a scientist. He finds himself quarantined, alone and confused, a stranger in a strange land. But Ponter manages to make friends with a doctor and a physicist, and especially with the Canadian geneticist Mary Vaughan, with whom he develops a special rapport. Ponter's colleague, Adekor Hald, faces chaos in the laboratory, the disappearance of a body, suspicion from his relatives and an explosive murder investigation . How can he prove his innocence if he has no idea what really happened to Ponter? Contact between humans and Neanderthals creates a relationship fraught with conflict, philosophical problems, threats to the existence of one species or the other - or both. A relationship equally rich with limitless possibilities for collaboration and growth on many levels, from the practical to the aesthetic, from the scientific to the spiritual. “A writer of boundless confidence and bold scientific interpretation.” ― The New York Times "A fast-paced novel, rich in Sawyer's signature anthropology and philosophy." – The Globe & Mail “The novel takes complex paleoanthropological data, cutting-edge theoretical physics, and characters that will warm your heart, and blends them into a charming, witty, and provocative novel. The best anthropological fiction." – Michael Gere “Sawyer writes with the scientific sweep and grandeur of Arthur C. Clarke and the human charm of Isaac Asimov.” – Quill & Quire