Caroline B. Cooney, Both Sides of Time
“People think they own time. They have watches and clocks and digital pulses. But they are wrong. Time owns them.”
If you went to elementary school in the ’90s, you probably did SSR (silent sustained reading) at least a few times a week. It was my absolute favorite part of school. For those thirty minutes or so, I didn’t have to try to solve a math problem or remember the states of matter. I just had to read. It was heaven.
I have vivid memories of picking up my first time-travel book, but I can’t for the life of me place the images I see in my mind’s eye in a particular classroom. Was I in fourth grade or fifth? Who was the teacher? I honestly can’t remember. But whoever it was had a copy of Caroline B. Cooney’s Both Sides of Time on her shelf, and I picked it up on a whim. You may know Cooney’s name from her better known work, The Face on the Milk Carton. I read that book the same year, I think, but Cooney’s Time Travelers series has stuck with me longer.
Annie Lockwood is a modern girl (I mean, modern for the ’90s) who is disappointed by what she considers the lack of romance in her life. When she accidentally falls through time and ends up in 1895, she meets the Stratton family and (predictably) falls in love with Strat, the son and heir. Their romance puts a snag in a lot of people’s plans, there’s a murder mystery, and, of course, the fact that Annie could accidentally go back to the present at any time. It’s definitely a YA series, not overly complicated, but my goodness did I love it. This series is perfect brain candy for days when you just want a satisfying story without having to think too hard.
After Annie and Strat’s adventures, I left time travel alone for a while. Middle school and high school were pretty much dominated by Harry Potter, and who can blame me? I’d say my next real foray into time-travel literature was in college when I read Susanna Kearsley’s The Winter Sea. You guys, I was enamored of this book.
An author visits an old Scottish castle to write about a Jacobite attempt to place exiled James Stewart back on the throne of Scotland. She finds herself remembering this she never knew in the first place, which raises definite questions about her connection to Slains and the events that took place there. It not a time-travel story in the traditional sense, but it definitely has that feel to it. I learned a ton of historical information from this book, and it was really enjoyable. Definitely recommended.
Now here’s where I’ll admit that Susanna Kearsley is, in my opinion, a really inconsistent author. Some of her books are spectacular, and others are mediocre at best. Belleweather is one of the former. It’s, again, not a traditional time-travel story, but it involves the French and Indian War, star-crossed lovers, and ghosts. It’s a perfect beach read and also dripping with historical info. The perfect combination, in my opinion.
And now we come to my other favorite time-travel series. I devoured the first four or five books in Sarah Woodbury’s After Cilmeri series in the course of one weekend. (There are actually 16 books in the series, so forgive me for not showing all of them.) This series centers around Meg, modern young woman who goes back in time and ends up in the company of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the last prince of Wales. I knew practically nothing about the history of Wales, but these books sent me into a deep dive. It’s fascinating. Basically, this whole series asks the question, “What would happen if Llywelyn ap Gruffydd didn’t die in an ambush in 1282? What if he’d lived to continue to fight the English and keep Wales an independent nation?” Seriously, such an interesting concept, and each book is a really quick, easy read.
If any of you are looking for some light summer reading with a historical twist, or if you just really dig time-travel romances, you should for sure give some of these a try.
Happy Reading!
