Tanglewreck

Jeanette Winterson (author)

Bloomsbury, UK: 2006; 415pp

ISBN: 0747583552

Genres: adventure,fantasy, science-fiction

Issues: friendship, identity, trust

Note: extension concepts;

This is an interesting novel, one that will appeal to gifted readers. The narrative concept is unusually complex, exploring as it does the idea of ‘time tornadoes' - lapses in the space-time continuum that result in individuals being swept from one era to another, or sometimes all the way across the known (and unknown) universe.

The centre of this curious time-warping phenomenon appears to be an old house called Tanglewreck and an orphan called Silver. The sinister Mr Darkwater is convinced that Silver knows the location of a mysterious clock called the Timekeeper, an alchemist's watch with special properties. Silver finds herself taking a journey through Space and Time, accompanied by her new and loyal friend, Gabriel. Incidental characters include Stephen Hawking, a multitude of popes and some bad-tempered rabbits.

Slightly surreal and wonderfully imagined, this is a story that draws the reader in, despite the predominantly two-dimensional nature of most adult characters - they are either bad or good, rather than exhibiting truly human complexities.

An unusual story but worth reading by the older end of this group.