[There are not enough timeslip books in the world, and so when Nosy Crow sent me this to look at, I was thrilled. I love what Sally Nicholls does and any book with fancy shiny lettering is absolutely up my street (you can’t see it on this image but I promise you it’s there). So! Enough of me babbling, let’s get to the book. It’s LOVELY]
A Christmas in Time by Sally Nicholls
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
There’s something intensely appealing about what Sally Nicholls does in A Christmas In Time, and that is to tell a really good story. It’s something we ask a lot of people to do but not many people can deliver on. Telling a story is hard. Telling a story that has pace, roundness, accessibility, satisfaction, and some very delicious descriptions of food, is super hard. But Nicholls is good at it and this is such a solid, good treat.
A Christmas In Time sees Alex and Ruby head back into a Victorian Christmas to solve a historic family crisis. It’s part of a series of timeslip adventures but able to be read in its own right (always a good sign) and reads in an immensely accessible manner. In terms of timeslip books, it’s younger than perhaps something like the blessed Tom’s Midnight Garden and Charlotte Sometimes and so presents a really gorgeous opportunity for readers building their confidence and skill in tackling bigger books.
I really loved this. There’s very little here you can pick at because it’s just all so well done. Nicholls manages to drop some nicely handled commentary on gender attitudes, whilst also making the historic seem intensely present. It’s so very easy to see people ‘from history’ as part of that – cold, static and distant, but here they’re lively and lovely and really rather wonderful.
I have no hesitations about this book, none.
My thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
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Daisy May Johnson 