"She time travels constantly. She does it because she can’t. Every so often, the insanity spills over into my life, and I find myself doing something I can’t be doing either.” [p. 121]
Freddy Duchamp is 14, Canadian, and lives with her little sister Mel ('treacherous genius') and her detested step-brother Roland ('shambling mess'). Their parents are ... extremely hands-off, and certainly don't notice or care when some peculiar people move into the house round the corner. Josiah seems more or less normal: Cuerva Lachance (Freddy finds it impossible not to use her full name) is charismatic, eccentric and chaotic. Freddy finds them intriguing and likeable, until Josiah starts trying to be her friend at school, which interferes with Freddy's strategy of remaining below the radar of her classmates. One concussion later, Freddy wakes up a very long way from home, and discovers that Josiah and Cuerva Lachance have different names -- names that are familiar from films and books ...
(I suspect I originally wishlisted this charming YA novel because of those names, but I had forgotten my rationale by the time the price dropped: so the big reveal was a big reveal, and I would rather not spoil it for anyone else.)
This was a delight, anyway: time loops, the power of story, the tensions between chaos and order, and some excellent historical vignettes. I was reminded of some of Diana Wynne Jones' novels, and slightly of Neil Gaiman's work too. Freddy is a likeable and effective narrator, who realises over the course of the book that she needs to change, and who is instrumental in rebuilding relationships within her family as well as, y'know, making a cosmic difference. I also liked Roland's evolution from shambling mess to sharp-witted gamesmaster -- a role that becomes highly significant -- and the glimpses of Mel's problematic role in the family.
My only major criticism would be the continued absence of Freddy's mother and stepfather. In a Diana Wynne Jones novel I'd probably interpret their uninvolvement as the result of a spell (though, hmm, Time of the Ghost), but that doesn't seem to be the case here. And why have the authorities not noticed or acted?
Highly recommended, regardless of that issue: I hope to read more by Kari Maaren.
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