This fantastic time-slip novel will have you gripped from page one – I read the whole thing in a day!

Evie is sulking after being bundled off to stay with her somewhat eccentric godmother (whom she’s never met before) whilst her mother breezes off to Venice on her honeymoon. She’s had to take a train to the middle of nowhere, then a taxi to a creaky old house where she can’t even get mobile phone reception!  To make it worse, the flat is a mess with a skull as part of the décor.

On her first night there, Evie notices a strange message etched onto the window pane in the spare room where she’s staying.  That, plus howling winds and a terrifying tapping on her bedroom window, adds up to a pretty terrible night’s sleep.  When she wakes up in a scratchy housemaid’s uniform, it soon becomes apparent that Evie has somehow travelled back in time to 1814.

There’s a serious injustice which needs righting, and Evie is the one who has to do it. That is, when she’s not too busy dodging a short-tempered housekeeper, learning how to set a fire, emptying chamber pots and scrubbing until her hands are raw.  Will Evie be able to change the past to fix the future?  Or will time run out?

I’ve always loved historical novels and anything slightly spooky, so this really was the perfect book for me.  When I discovered that Helen Peters’ inspiration for this book came from real-life events at Hellen’s Manor, Hertfordshire, I was even more excited to get reading!

I was not disappointed.  I was gripped from chapter one and couldn’t read the pages quick enough to find out what happened to the characters – the sign of a great story!  The book was packed with interesting historical titbits and sought to highlight the social injustices of the period: lack of women’s rights, child labour, slavery, the huge class divide were all discussed in a sensitive and age-appropriate manner.

Read and be transported to a whole new world.

Library Girl.

*Many thanks to Nosy Crow for sending me this copy to review*