The Years of Rice and Salt

The Years of Rice and Salt asks what the world becomes if the Black Death kills nearly all of Europe instead of a third. Across ten parts and seven centuries, history is shaped by Islamic, Chinese, and indigenous American civilizations rather than the West. The thread running through it all is a small group of souls, a "jati," who are reincarnated into each era and recognized by the recurring first letter of their names. Between lives they meet in the bardo, the Buddhist space between deaths, before returning as scientists, soldiers, rulers, and rebels. Robinson changes his prose style to fit each age the souls inhabit.