Adam's Common, by David Wiseman, for Timeslip Tuesday

I'm back for another Timeslip Tuesday with Adam's Common, by David Wiseman (1984). 

14-year old Peggy is dragged along to England from her home in Boston when her father's work sends him to the industrial town of Trafford.  She is not thrilled by the prospect of living there for a whole year, and faces a rough adjustment at her new school.  The only place she likes is Adam's Common, a huge undeveloped park in the middle of the densely built-up town. Her explorations lead her to the remains of an old house, burnt long ago and half fallen.  She sketches it, but though she is a good artist its shape fights her, and she can't quite capture it, and the mood of the place shifts from one visit to another.  And there is also the fleeting glimpse of a boy inside the ruin....

Back in the 19th century past, there was a lonely boy, William Trafford, in the house.  A boy who can see her...a boy rich in material things, but with no friends at all.

When Peggy learns that Adam's Common is going to be turned into a modern commercial/residential development, she is appalled.  With other like-minded townsfolk, she throws herself into a campaign to save the park she has come love. (I liked that her mother gets involved and meets lots of people too, because one imagines she was even more lonely than Peggy).  But saving the park means proving that it was deeded to the town to be left as open green space in perpetuity...which leads to finding out who Adam was, and why the common was named for him.

In the present, Peggy sees William, and it is as if he is trying to reach out to her, just as she is trying to connect with him.  And when she is able to read his diary, freshly discovered by a relative, she learns about Adam--William's first and best friend who loved to learn about all the green and growing things, and all the animals in the park like grounds of William's house.  He never entered the house, and he and William met only in secret.

Then, slipping back in time, she sees what happened to Adam.

And Peggy, who loves the park just as Adam did, is able to cross more fully back to the past and meet William, now grown old, inside the house that has not yet been burned.  And this meeting, they can speak to each other, and William is able to show Peggy how she can save the common land he wanted saved for ever in honor of his lost friend.

I read this a while ago, and I did not love it.  In my Goodreads review, I wrote "It was good, and I liked how the past and the present came together to save a beautiful undeveloped piece of land in the middle of an urban area, but it needed to push harder than it did at the emotional arc. More story would have helped."  But just now, dipping into the end to refresh my memory, I found it much more moving than I remembered, and I wonder if my past self of mid January (which seems like a year ago) was just in a grumpy mood.  In any event, I will keep this one for rereading, and seek out more by the author.