After reading the first in this great, junior fiction time-slip series a month or so ago, we were keen to catch up with Ruby and Alex’s adventures in this festive story.
A Christmas in Time takes us back to the Victorian era, and like the first book, is rich in historical details: fashions, festive activities, the treatment of women and children and life without central heating and indoor plumbing (a shock to the system in the middle of winter!). Alex and Ruby find themselves trying to stop a recently-widowed family member from sending his daughter away to a grim boarding school, as they know that it’s going to be wiped out by disease in the near future. It’s a heart-warming family tale, perfect for the festive season, and the historical facts prompted lots of questions from the kids who were eager to find out more about the time period. My daughter – who was not impressed at the thought of having to wear a corset! – loved both the cover and the internal illustrations and has been trying to replicate them. She’s now desperate to get her hands on gold foiling to make her pictures shine!
There are more books due to be added to the series next year and so I’ll definitely check them out once published. It will be interesting to see what time periods Alex and Ruby travel to next.