Charlotte becomes trapped in Clare's time, struggling to maintain her identity.Īt the age of 21, Penelope Farmer was contracted for her first collection of short stories, The China People. The story is written from Charlotte's point of view: the narrative never follows Clare. Charlotte and Clare change places each night, alternating between 1918 and Charlotte's time although Charlotte and Clare never meet, they communicate through diary notes in an exercise book. The story follows a girl starting at boarding school who finds one morning she has traveled mysteriously back more than 40 years and is known as Clare. It is the third and best-known of three books featuring the Makepeace sisters, Charlotte and Emma, sometimes known as the Aviary Hall books. However, the situation becomes more than tricky when Charlotte then finds herself trapped in 1918, seemingly with no way out!įarmer’s prose is absolutely beautiful throughout this book, sharply pulling the reader into the book through her rich description of the sights, sounds and smells that Charlotte experiences.Ĭharlotte Sometimes is the kind is book that will transport the reader to another place and time.Charlotte Sometimes is a children's novel by the English writer Penelope Farmer, published in 1969 in Britain and the United States. Things become tricky for Charlotte, regularly swapping identities and keeping up the pretence among her fellow pupils and teachers.

The time travel becomes a regular occurrence, taking place every night, and Charlotte and Clare communicate with each other in a diary which they hide in one of the hollow posts in the magical bed that they share. The next day she wakes up to find herself in the same bed, same dorm, same school, but with one big difference… Charlotte finds that overnight she has become a girl called Clare and has been transported back in time to 1918! The story begins when Charlotte, a shy new girl at a boarding school, chooses a bed next to the window in her new dormitory which she is strangely drawn to. I, myself, first read this book when I was 15 and when I re-read it years later as an adult, found it no less an enchanting read. Written by Penelope Farmer and first published in 1969, it will delight children, teens and adults.

Here is my first children’s book review: Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer…Ĭharlotte Sometimes is a classic tale of mystery, time travel and identity. If you are looking for ideas of great books for your children to read over the Summer months and beyond, I have decided to start sharing books that my own children and I have particularly enjoyed to inspire you!

Charlotte sometimes book