The Time Engine

LoveReading4Kids Says

Interest Age 9+ Reading Age 8

This story is set in 1938, so its young protagonist Eric doesn’t know the term for coercive control, though he’s well aware of how cruelly his father treats his mother. Eric knows that his mother is at least as smart as his father – in fact she got better grades than him in their studies at Cambridge – but he’s still surprised to discover the time machine she has constructed in their attic.

It takes him back to 1828, and the creator of the original plans for the time machine, his direct ancestor, Ada Lovelace no less, which goes a way perhaps to explaining where his mum gets her brains.

Ada is the same age as Eric and already struggling against the same societal strictures and prejudices that are making his mother so unhappy over 100 years later. Ada has to help Eric get back to his own time and their encounter has an impact on the lives of both Ada and Eric’s mother, setting up an ending that will have all readers cheering.

This is another engaging, thought-provoking and absorbing story by an author who knows just how to wring adventure and enlightenment from the past.

Reviewed by Andrea Reece
Andrea Reece has spent almost her entire working life in children’s books, first as publisher, latterly as consultant, project manager and critic.
More reviews by Andrea Reece

About The Time Engine

Catapulted back in time by a mysterious machine, Eric joins forces with a young Ada Lovelace to find a way home in this atmospheric fusion of science-fiction and history from acclaimed author Lindsay Galvin.

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