The continuity between past and present, with furniture and tools in use over many generations of the farm’s inhabitants, will resonate with family historians who either cherish physical objects passed down in their own family or who mourn their lack. The descriptions of the house, its furnishings, the farm buildings, and the landscape are vivid enough that I could easily picture them in my mind. The time travel element reminds me very much of Daphne du Maurier’s The House on the Strand, with past and present coexisting in the same physical space for the time traveler. This book combines many elements that I love, including old houses with secret passages and time travel into the past. Penelope feels herself caught between the two worlds, as tragedy draws ever closer for her 16th century friends and Penelope is powerless to change the outcome. She spends more and more time in 16th century Thackers, the country home of Anthony Babington, whom Penelope knows is destined to be executed for his role in plotting the escape of Mary, Queen of Scots. Penelope finds she has the ability to slip between past and present. However, it isn’t as restful for Penelope as the adults hoped. All of the children, and especially Penelope, soon take to the rhythms of country life. Cameron arranges for all three of her children – Alison, Ian, and Penelope – to stay with her elderly aunt and uncle on the Derbyshire farm where she herself was raised. Worried about her youngest daughter’s health, Mrs.
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