Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Feature [Time] Travel



This week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is “Books that feature travel”. I misread it as “time travel” and got interested, although I have not previously participated in this meme. When I realized my mistake, I had already come up with a list of ten time travel novels I read recently, so here you are:

  1. Jane Austen Cannot Marry by May McGoldrick (2022). Nadine Finley has been sent back in time to save literary history – by preventing Jane Austen from marrying an attractive British naval officer!  Which would obviously prevent her from devoting her time to writing . . . 
  2. Time at the Top by Edward Ormondroyd (1963). When 14-year- old Susan Shaw takes the always unreliable elevator in her apartment building, she is astonished to wind up in the 19th century where two children need her help. My review.
  3. On the Wasteland by Ruth M. Arthur (1975). Betony is drawn to the lonely wasteland near her orphanage but soon her dreams of the Norsemen who once lived there transport her into their world.
  4. Victory by Susan Cooper (2006). British Molly has a hard time adjusting to life in America when her mother remarries but a trip to Mystic, Connecticut gets her interested in Admiral Nelson and Sam Robbins, a powder monkey aboard the HMS Victory. My review.
  5. Waking in Time by Angie Stanton (2017). Abbi has just arrived at UW Madison for her freshman year but on her second day, she wakes up to a different world: 1983.  The college setting made this particularly enjoyable.  My review.
  6. Winter Shadows by Margaret Buffie (2010). A captivating YA novel in which wo young women, Beatrice and Cass, share separate but connected realities in a setting that goes back to Western Canada’s early settler days. My review.
  7. Another Shore by Nancy Bond (1988). I am surprised I have never reviewed this haunting book about teenage Lyn, working in a reconstructed colonial settlement in Nova Scotia, who finds herself transported back to 1744, when the French inhabitants are at war with England.
  8. The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman (2011). Sophie, a privileged young white girl in 1960 Louisiana, is transported to 1860 where her ancestors mistake her for a slave. My review.
  9. Rhapsody in Time by Judith O’Brien (2010). After a bad blind date, Liz is disgusted with dating in 1990s New York but a bump on her head on the subway sends her back to the 1920s – and a better romance than she’d found in her own time!  It's a really good book despite the garish cover!
  10. The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley (2011). Grieving after the death of her sister, Eva returns to the old house on the Cornish coast where she spent childhood summers and finds herself traveling back to the 18th century. 
    Have you read any of these?

12 comments:

TracyK said...

I have not read any of these books but several of them sound very good. Waking in Time and Time at the Top especially. Nice Top Ten Post.

Cath said...

Time travel is one of my least favourite sci-fi tropes, so I don't rush towards them. That said, a few that you've featured actually sound quite good so I will look them up.

Helen said...

I love time travel, but apart from The Rose Garden I haven't read any of these! I like the sound of the Susan Cooper book - I enjoyed The Dark is Rising sequence, but still haven't tried any of her others.

Marianne said...

I have never heard of any of these books but that's probably because I'm not into time travel. But the Jane Austen one would interest me. LOL
Here is my list:
https://momobookblog.blogspot.com/2025/05/top-ten-tuesday-books-that-feature.html

CLM said...

May McGoldrick is a husband/wife writing team I worked with when I was an editor and this was a fun book to read!

Marianne said...

Interesting. Thanks for that.

Lydia said...

On the Wasteland sounds interesting.

CLM said...

Ruth Arthur's books are brilliant. Atheneum should reprint them! If you ever see one at a library book sale, grab it!

Cindy said...

I am not usually a "time travel" reader, but several of these look interesting. Thanks for joining in the meme!

thecuecard said...

I am not a time traveler per se but I'd like to read Susanna Kearsley sometime! Which is her best?

CLM said...

The Winter Sea is my favorite. I actually have one book I own but haven't read - I guess I am saving it for a day when I really need cheering up. Maybe I should add it to my 20 Books of Summer!

Emma @damppebbles said...

I wouldn't worry too much about misreading the assignment. I tend to change things up most weeks as I can't find any books (crime/mystery) that work with the prompts! Welcome to the TTT family.