Tumbleglass by Kate Constable

Title: Tumbleglass

Author: Kate Constable

Genre: Historical Fiction/Time slip/Magic

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 31^st January 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 288

Price: $17.99

Synopsis: A wonderful time-slip novel full of secrets, family relationships and quiet magic, from the award-winning author of the bestselling and much-loved novels Crow Country, Cicada Summer and The January Stars.

‘Captivating and mysterious. I was completely caught up in Rowan’s daring hunt through time to rescue her sister.’ – Bren MacDibble

Thirteen-year-old Rowan is helping her older sister Ash paint her bedroom when she discovers a mysterious ring that transports them both back in time to 1999. To a party being held in the very same house!

While Ash dances, Rowan unwittingly disrupts the laws of time, and when she wakes up back in the present day, her sister is missing, and – even worse – everyone in their family seems to be forgetting she ever existed.

With the help of her magical neighbour Verity, Rowan must find the courage to travel back through the history of the house. But can she find everything she needs to rescue Ash before her sister disappears forever?

A warm and beautifully told time-slip novel, brimming with secrets, gentle magic and the strong bonds of family, from one of Australia best-loved children’s book authors.

‘Thought provoking and highly engaging – a time-slip with an intriguing mystery and unexpected twist. Highly recommended.’ – Wendy Orr

‘A book to devour in one sitting. The mystery and magic held me captive until the very last page.’ –  Zana Fraillon

~*~

In 2019, thirteen-year-old Rowan and her big sister Ash are painting Ash’s bedroom when they find a silver ring with coloured glass in it. When Rowan puts it on, the sisters are whisked back to 1999 – in their house, at a party. Here, they discover their mum when she wasn’t much older than Ash. But soon they are separated – and Rowan wakes up back in 2019 -without Ash. When Rowan wakes up in her time, the rest of her family starts to forget that Ash existed. Rowan realises that she has unknowingly disrupted the laws of time travel, and rushes to their magical neighbour, Verity for help. Verity sends Rowan on a journey through time in her house, all the way back to its earliest days to find items to help save Ash. But can she do it without disrupting the rest of the history of her family and the house?

Kate Constable has created a wonderful pre-COVID world of time travel – where we are firmly in a world that hasn’t been affected by the pandemic when we first start the book, and head into a timeline marked with significant events. 1999 – the year before the Y2K panic and the Sydney Olympics, 1975 and Land Rights movements, a family about to be marked and changed by World War II, and 1900 – when the house is brand new. Yet each year that Rowan travels back to is marked by some kind of loss – which Rowan needs to work through to find what she is looking for. What I liked about each sojourn back in time was that there was a larger event – something that was going to change the world in some way – happening but the people that Rowan met were also going through their own life-altering moments. But Rowan isn’t sure if she can get everything, she needs to help Ash – and for a while, she’s the only one who can remember Ash at all! Rowan is determined to fix things and bring Ash home.

This is the first Kate Constable book I have read, and I think what attracted me to it was the time slip aspect, because I am always interested to see how different authors tackle time travel and time slip – and I find that there are some similarities, yet there are also differences that make each different book unique and fun. Often it is the characters and their reactions to the worlds and times they travel to – and how they apply what they know to the time they have gone back to. In this book, a ring and Rowan’s own birth and life in the house anchors her time travel abilities – Kate explains it much better through Verity of course. I found this book interesting because it allowed the characters to make mistakes – to not really know whether 1999 had the internet, or which point in the war it was. And the way the characters around Rowan reacted – the way she blended in that made it so genuine and gave it life.

I also liked that Rowan wove in and out of time easily, with great determination to find her sister and save her family. It is the kind of book that will appeal to a broad range of readers, and I liked that it had action, but the action wasn’t over the top or too violent – it was what it needed to make the story work. I loved that the characters were all so different – and I think my favourite was Rowan. She was focused and determined, and I liked that she never gave up on her sister. That she never gave up trying to make everyone remember her and keep Ash alive for them. The ongoing theme of glass throughout linked the locations, the house, and the quest that Rowan and Verity were on. I think this book is delightful in so many ways, and I think it will appeal to readers aged ten and older, as it feels like it definitely veers towards the upper middle grade to lower Young Adult audience – or indeed, anyone who feels like they will enjoy reading it. It feels like a special book to me – one that I think celebrates the present and the past, and allows the past to speak for itself genuinely whilst featuring diversity and difference in many ways. Another great time travel novel.