Synopsis: When Alex and Ruby fall through the mirror in their aunt’s house, they find themselves in a different historical period, each time with a different task to perform before they can return to the present. From Edwardian crime capers to Victorian Christmasses, their time-slip stories are always exciting and beautifully told.
A Victorian Christmas is lovely – all the food and candles and games and singing – unless you’re poor, motherless Edith who is condemned to be sent to a cruel boarding school on Boxing Day. Can Alex and Ruby persuade her strict father that home is where the heart is instead?
Classic storytelling from a brilliant writer and beautifully illustrated throughout by Rachael Dean, with covers by Isabelle Follath. One of these books is never enough!
Release Date: 1st October 2020
Genres: Middle Grade, Time Travelling, Christmas, Historical, Magic, Family, Family Loss, Adventure
Pages: 200
Review: Ruby and Alex are spending Christmas at their Aunt Joanna’s having to help out in her B&B, though neither being excited about Christmas there. Ruby makes a wish to celebrate it any other time and their magic time portaling mirror answers her wish. Back to a Victorian Christmas they go, where they must help the families cousin from being sent to a detrimental school and change her life for the better.
Alex and Ruby adapted so quickly to the changes even though they weren’t that easy. They blended in with their historical family as though they were naturally apart of that and I really enjoyed that aspect of it. It was just as though they belonged exactly where they were.
The story itself was interesting with the kids from modern times travelling in to the past and having to live in it for a few days learning so much. Though it wasn’t a perfect story, it still held my attention enough, it was still an easy read and a cute enough story. The children were all really excited for Christmas and wanted to make it as special as they could for Edith and uncle Elijah but it wasn’t easy to do as they were both really sad.
I liked seeing the progression of the two characters and seeing how Ruby and Alex were able to try and persuade the changes to happen. I also loved seeing the Victorian era come alive, though it was done really simply it was still really beautifully described.
If you are looking for an easy to read historical book that will be both fun and give you a glimpse into the past and how they did Christmas this will give you that certainly. It blends the modern and the historical together nicely.
About Author: Sally Nicholls is a prize-winning British children’s author. She was born and grew up in Stockton-on-Tees. On finishing school, Nicholls chose to travel around the world. Her first novel was Ways to Live Forever.
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