The iron bridge

In Shropshire, England, 1773, important men are planning the world's first iron bridge, to be built across the Severn River at Coalbrookdale. John Wilkinson, armsmaker, wants the bridge: let it serve as a symbol and advertisement for iron. Abraham Darby III, owner of the largest iron-works in England and a Quaker, wants the bridge: let it further his family name. Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, architect, wants the bridge: let it be the capstone of his career.

Maggie Foster, too, wants the bridge built - but built wrong this time. If she can get Darby to use a different design, the bridge will topple in the next earthquake. Iron will be discredited, the Industrial Revolution postponed. Then history may take a path better than the one that has made a ruin of the world she comes from. Maggie was sent by Ecosophia, a desperate commune in the United States, in the Southwest, in the year 2043.