The Turing Protocol

Croydon, CEO of the Australian bookstore chain QBD Books, reimagines WWII codebreaker Alan Turing as an architect of time travel in his ambitious debut. In the present, British MP Annabelle McIntosh learns that she’s Turing’s granddaughter. Flash back to 1944, when Turing successfully uses a time machine he’s invented called Nautilus to save lives on D-Day, though he remains wary of tampering too much with fate. As the war grinds on, Turing’s wife, Joan Clarke, gives up their son David for adoption, and she and Turing establish a set of ethical rules for Nautilus’s deployment. After WWII ends and gives way to the Cold War, Turing returns to intelligence work, only to be betrayed by real-life double agent Kim Philby. After Turing’s death, Joan guards Nautilus, employing it only to avert catastrophe, while David becomes involved in espionage at great personal sacrifice. Though the shifting timelines lead to some repetition, and the wartime arc receives an outsize share of the page count, Croydon proves himself a clever reinterpreter of history. Flaws aside, this pays tribute to Turing’s genius and serves as a thoughtful meditation on power, secrecy, and sacrifice in times of conflict. Agent: Shane Salerno, Story Factory. (Dec.)