I do believe that the time slip story is one that will never go out of fashion — there is
so much history to explore!
We’re seeing a notable wave of timeslip novels in Australian children’s literature. I showcased some of them in Children’s Timeslip Novels by Australian Authors, added a Goodreads list called #LoveOzMG Timeslips, and wrote a longer piece called A Matter of Time which I also turned into a short podcast episode. No one has told me to shut up about timeslips, yet, so here I am again with reading notes on a recent novel.
Let me introduce you to one of the best timeslips I’ve read in a long time. Tumbleglass by Kate Constable, published by A&U.
Tumbleglass is the story of a house.
It’s a house that is over a hundred years old. A steady presence for one family after another, through wars, fashions, and political and social change. But while every house has its foibles, its own smell and feel, this house has a special kind of crack that allows time travel to take place. And one day, 13-year-old Rowan and her 19-year-old sister Ash tumble unexpectedly into that crack and land in the year 1999, slap-bang in the middle of a party (which is the first of several lovely moments of humour for us older readers).
I asked Kate how she came to write not just one but several timeslips since her debut in 2002. She said:
I’ve always been a fan of timeslip stories ever since I first encountered them. Philippa Pearce’s Tom’s Midnight Garden has been a huge influence on my writing, but I also loved Alison Uttley’s A Traveller in Time and Lucy M. Boston’s Green Knowe books, which are a cross between ghost stories and timeslips — and feature several generations of children in a single house. I’ve always been fascinated by history, and especially by old houses and thinking about all the people who have passed through their walls.
Family Dynamics
There were two aspects of this novel that bowled me over — no, make that three and I’ll get the first out of the way quickly: the writing. Kate Constable’s prose is absolutely delicious.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Voracious to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.