Tomorrow’s Ghost by Tanya Landman

Title: Tomorrow’s Ghost

Author: Tanya Landman

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Walker Books

Published: 1^st February 2026

Format: Paperback

Pages: 224

Price: $17.99

Synopsis: A pacy historical time-slip adventure for middle grade readers, from the Carnegie Medal-winning author of Apache and Buffalo Soldier.

Haunted by the past, can Anna rewrite the future?

1976: Twelve-year-old Anna, bored and lonely away from her friends for the summer, finds herself dreaming about a girl from 1919 – a neglected and lonely girl living in a mansion with an austere and unloving grandfather. As Anna’s dreams grow more vivid, she realizes that the girl from the past is calling out to her – and that Anna must cross time to save her from an untimely death…

~*~

Anna has been sent away to another relative in 1976, just after she turns twelve. She’s lived with her Aunt Maggie since she was a baby after her parents died, bit now, she’s off to help another aunt – Auntie Em after she’s injured herself tripping over her dog.

Whilst staying in the isolated cottage with Em, Anna begins dreaming of a young girl from 1919, Etty. Etty has lost both her parents by the time she is eight, and has been sent to live in a large mansion that is in the village Anna is staying in. It’s Anna’s dreams about Etty that draw her into what happened, and wanting to know who this girl is, where she is and what happened to her.

Local stories tell Anna about the girl and the Great War that devastated an entire generation in the early 20^th century. This shapes the story as Anna heads off to find out more about Etty, and grows distant as the book goes on, her urgency to save Etty driving everything she does in the last third of the book.

This is a time-slip novel, where the dreams and figuring out who Etty was and what is happening to her over 50 years in the past. England has seen two wars by 1976, two wars that killed millions and devastated communities. Wars that have shaped the generations that came before Anna. So as she learns about these wars, the communities and families affected, and what happens when she wants to save someone living in the past, Anna finds herself drifting.

It’s not the first time she’s felt connected to a ghost or felt ghostly presences. It’s stronger this time though, and the mystery is intriguing, and saving Etty is what draws Anna into things. The dreams, and stories she hears make her even more determined to save Etty from a fate and destiny she doesn’t want for herself.

A destiny that in Etty’s time, is more about family legacy, saving face and fitting into a society where things are rapidly changing as a consequence of the war. It highlights the stark differences between the first decades of the 20^th century and the middle of the century in the 1970s and the many changes that occurred, as well as the many things that they had then that have disappeared and altered in today’s world.

Both worlds are a good contrast to each other and today. In 1919 and 1976, things weren’t as immediate as they are today. Life was slower and probably less demanding in some ways. People didn’t have as many things competing for their attention as we do today. This was a good way to show the contrasts in different times and the way things have changed.

The entire novel seems to take place over a week, and Anna’s determination to find out more about Etty and help her could be what she needs to heal her own family and find new friends that want to be there for her. Friends that like her for who she is, and it is also about working out how to be open with the people who care about us. Setting it in 1976 removes the complications, or rather, the ease of technology to find out what happened, and in some ways, to reduce the isolation of the village Anna is visiting.

I think it was the isolation, and having things available at certain times that worked well here. It shows children how differently people have done things in the past, even when the same feelings and issues crop up. It’s a fast-paced novel, where the key aspects of the time travel come much later on than I expected, yet the vivid, realistic dreams worked to shape how this was going to happen.

This was an enjoyable, interesting novel that gently explored history, family and heritage without being too traumatic, and allowing readers to get a glimpse into the past. Another great book for middle grade readers.