A blog reader wrote seeking book identification help that I can't provide; maybe you recognize it?
"I originally read it in the UK back in the late 80s/early 90s and it involves time travel (via a magic door?) to a house during world war 2. The home was populated by two children (a boy and a girl) with their dog called Blackie and a housekeeper who looked after them. The boy used to step through a door in the modern era and end up back in this house where he couldn't leave the home and neither could the children (or they would cease to exist).
The main tension point of the story was where the dog escaped one night during heavy bombing and the children were frantic and desperate to get outside to save the dog leading to some chicanery by the time travel to remedy the situation."
It sounds like one I'd like, and I wasn't able to find it through google....
Update: a friend recognized it, and it's not a time travel book after all. It is Nicholas Fisk's "A Rag, A Bone And A Hank Of Hair." My friend described it thus: "It's about a
boy at the end of the 22nd century who is employed to help with an experiment
involving "reborns" - a family from the 1940s who have been cloned. He can only
interract with them in their house, because they aren't allowed to know that
they're not still in their own time."
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I found something close but no perfect... An Angel for May by Melvin Burgess
ReplyDeleteThis British import combines time travel and contemporary concerns to create an unusual novel. Tam, a 12-year-old boy struggling with his parents' divorce, finds refuge at an old burned-out farmhouse. After meeting a homeless old woman and her loyal dog, Winnie, he suddenly and briefly gets a glimpse of the past. Fearful but intrigued, the boy returns to the old house and travels 50 years into the past. Despite hostility from the villagers and concerns about his situation, Tam spends two happy weeks with a friendly farmer, Mr. Nutter, and young May, a traumatized child of uncertain origins and abilities. Back in the present, Tam is unable to explain his absence to his parents or to forget the friends he left behind. By time-traveling once more, he discovers that while he is unable to prevent a past tragedy, he can make a positive impact in the present.
That sounds like one I'd like too! Thanks!
DeleteAnd it does sound similar....
I've just done some crazy Googling and I can't find anything that resembles the book even slightly, sadly. I'm looking for one myself, it's three books in one and they're all choose your path books. One is set in a spaceship and I remember landing somewhere with loads of rotting bodies and another is a fantasy where you go through a cave in a boat, somehow end up in a castle and then there's something about two ravens. So if that rings a bell for anyone... XD
ReplyDelete★ Under The Mountain ★
Hah! Sorry I missed this earlier! I did a flashback Friday post on this one a few months ago. One of my favorites.
ReplyDelete