Review - Charlotte Sometimes

Charlotte Sometimes (Aviary Hall #3)
by Penelope Farmer
Date: 1969
Publisher: Red Fox
Reading level: MG
Pages: 208
Source: Kobo

Charlotte Makepeace is the new girl at her boarding school. After going to sleep in the curious iron bed with the little wheels, she awakens the next morning to find that she has switched places with a girl named Clare Moby who lives in 1918.

At first, the girls view this strange phenomenon as a curiosity. They even figure out a way to communicate with each other over the 40 years that separate them. But when Charlotte finds herself trapped in the past, the question is not only how will she return to her own time, but who is she, really?

I've been itching to read this book for ages. I'm so glad I finally got to it, because it was quite good!

The time-travel theme has been done many times, of course, but I quite liked how it was done here. As far as I can tell, Charlotte and Clare physically travelled through time (as opposed to just their consciousnesses travelling); they must have looked very much alike for so few people to have noticed the difference. But the story is not so much about the time travel itself as it is about identity. It's also an English boarding school story, which is bound to introduce a number of interesting characters and scenarios. There were a few things that I thought might be relevant that were never addressed again (what was the deal with Elsie, for example?), but on the whole it was a pretty cohesive story.

I did like most of the characters, but I especially liked Clare's younger sister, Emily. She had such a big personality for a little girl; she was only ten, but in some ways she came across as more of an adventurous, rebellious teenager. The stuffy Chisel Browns were also pretty entertaining.

The narrative is quite lovely -- even poetic -- in places, and I enjoyed reading every word. However, the EPUB edition that I had (supposedly based on the 40th anniversary edition of the novel) was abysmal.  There were numerous typos and odd, random punctuation (like errant periods or one half of a set of quotation marks just dangling in the middle of nowhere) and I find it difficult to believe that such mistakes were actually included in the original... and then continually overlooked for the next 40 years!  (The good thing about this edition, though, was that it included the original ending.  Apparently, someone in the 1980s decided that the last bit shouldn't be included.)

All in all, I really enjoyed this one and I can see why it's considered a classic.  Funnily enough, it's the third book about the Makepeace sisters.  However, you do not need to have read the first two books to enjoy the third (and it's a good thing, too, since the others appear to be out of print).

Plot: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Pace: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Editing: 3/5
Originality: 4/5
Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 4 out of 5

In My Mailbox (46)

Bought from Kobo:

Charlotte Sometimes
by Penelope Farmer

A time-travel story that is both a poignant exploration of human identity and an absorbing tale of suspense.

It's natural to feel a little out of place when you're the new girl, but when Charlotte Makepeace wakes up after her first night at boarding school, she's baffled: everyone thinks she's a girl called Clare Mobley, and even more shockingly, it seems she has traveled forty years back in time to 1918. In the months to follow, Charlotte wakes alternately in her own time and in Clare's. And instead of having only one new set of rules to learn, she also has to contend with the unprecedented strangeness of being an entirely new person in an era she knows nothing about. Her teachers think she's slow, the other girls find her odd, and, as she spends more and more time in 1918, Charlotte starts to wonder if she remembers how to be Charlotte at all. If she doesn't figure out some way to get back to the world she knows before the end of the term, she might never have another chance.

I've been wanting to read this book for ages, but I couldn't find a decent-priced hard copy. It finally came out in EPUB format earlier this year, so now I can afford to read it! I just hope it has the original ending...


What was in your "mailbox" this week?


In My Mailbox was started by Kristi of The Story Siren.

On My Wishlist (1)

On My Wishlist is a meme hosted at Book Chick City.

As you can see from the widget in my sidebar (if you're patient enough to watch all the covers cycle through), I have quite a few books on my wishlist. Here are a few that I can't wait to get my hands on:

The Puzzle Ring
by Kate Forsyth

Hannah Rose Brown is twelve years old when she finds out that her family is cursed. Desperate to find the truth about her father's disappearance, she travels to her ancestral home in Scotland, and discovers a chain of dark secrets that plunge her into different worlds, timeframes and dangers...

This one looks so good! And I've heard good things about it, too. At the moment, it appears to be most readily available in the UK. I did find it for sale on Amazon.ca, but it's got one heck of a wait time. So I think I'll wait until it's released in the U.S.A. Does anyone have any idea when that'll be?




Basajaun
by Rosemary Van Deuren

In the world of the rabbits, she is hailed as a savior.
In the world of men, a holy man wants her dead.
She is twelve years old.

In an isolated European farm town in 1906, a Pastor known as 'the rabbit killer' is preaching that the overrun of rabbits is a parallel for sin and corruption. But when Cora - a farmer's daughter - befriends a rogue rabbit named Basajaun, she becomes enmeshed in a hierarchy of sentient rabbit armies and ceremony. Soon the secret behind the rabbits plight is unraveling, and Cora is fighting to save the lives of those she loves - as well as her own.

I'm not usually drawn to self-published books, but this one looks pretty interesting (and the cover's not bad, either). The reviews I've heard are pretty positive, too.




Charlotte Sometimes
by Penelope Farmer

It's natural to feel a little out of place when you're the new girl, but when Charlotte Makepeace wakes up after her first night at boarding school, she's baffled: everyone thinks she's a girl called Clare Mobley, and even more shockingly, it seems she has traveled forty years back in time to 1918. In the months to follow, Charlotte wakes alternately in her own time and in Clare's. And instead of having only one new set of rules to learn, she also has to contend with the unprecedented strangeness of being an entirely new person in an era she knows nothing about. Her teachers think she's slow, the other girls find her odd, and, as she spends more and more time in 1918, Charlotte starts to wonder if she remembers how to be Charlotte at all. If she doesn't figure out some way to get back to the world she knows before the end of the term, she might never have another chance.

This is a bit of an old one (first published in 1969), but I've never read it and it looks really good. I love a good time-travel story.




Brightly Woven
by Alexandra Bracken

When Wayland North brings rain to a region that's been dry for over ten years, he's promised anything he'd like as a reward. He chooses the village elder's daughter, sixteen-year-old Sydelle Mirabel, who is a skilled weaver and has an unusual knack for repairing his magical cloaks. Though Sydelle has dreamt of escaping her home, she's hurt that her parents relinquish her so freely and finds herself awed and afraid of the slightly ragtag wizard who is unlike any of the men of magic in the tales she's heard. Still, she is drawn to this mysterious man who is fiercely protective of her and so reluctant to share his own past.

The pair rushes toward the capital, intent to stop an imminent war, pursued by Reuel Dorwan (a dark wizard who has taken a keen interest in Sydelle) and plagued by unusually wild weather. But the sudden earthquakes and freak snowstorms may not be a coincidence. As Sydelle discovers North's dark secret and the reason for his interest in her and learns to master her own mysterious power, it becomes increasingly clear that the fate of the kingdom rests in her fingertips. She will either be a savior, weaving together the frayed bonds between Saldorra and Auster, or the disastrous force that destroys both kingdoms forever.

This one hasn't been released yet, but it's close. Only a few more weeks to go! It sounds like the type of fantasy story I'd like.

Of course there's more on my wishlist. But I need to save some books for future weeks!