In the opening scene of this book Andromache Peters is expelled from her prestigious private boarding school after being falsely accused of a series of thefts. She has in fact been set up by the class bully but in reality Andromache is very happy to leave this place (with the dreadful sounding name of Alabaster's Academy for Ladies). She is not happy, however, about meeting up with her mother. Andromache and her mother have a very fraught relationship. Her parents were highly awarded intrepid news reporters. Her mother has written several books about their exploits and she has become a minor celebrity.
"My mother no longer looked much like the famous photos, but that didn't make her any less of an impressive figure. She might had traded in her goggles and leather jackets and gyrocopter for rectangular glasses and suits and limos, but there was still a presence that she practically radiated, somewhere between a sun you didn't want to get too close to and a planet drawing you in. Maybe it was the knowledge of everything she had done. Maybe it was the fact that she was my mother."
Andromache does not appreciate having to live in the shadow of her famous parents and she is constantly aware that her mother is disappointed with her. There is also the mystery of her father who she has been told died when she was just two years old - twelve years ago.
On her return home from the school, Andromache overhears a telephone conversation between her mother and a man called Cavanaugh Rogers. She knows this is about her father. He died when she was so young and her mother never talks about him but Andromache really wants to understand what happened. Late that night, with the help of another rebellious school friend Rylee, Andromache heads off to Precipice Laboratories - the place where her father, she's been told, died.
Very quickly things escalate in the laboratory. Andromache meets Cavanaugh Rogers and he shows her his invention which can take a person to another parallel world. Why is this hugely significant? Because her father is not dead - he is in another world. There are thousands of other universes but with the addition of DNA the device can take Andromache to her father - of course this is not straightforward. The concept of other worlds is a complex one but it all about possibilities.
Think about key moments in history: "If humankind never discovered fire. If Alexander the Great had lived longer and kept conquering. If William Shakespeare had never published a word. If, at a key point, history had chosen a different fork in the road. What would those worlds look like?"
The time travel device is called the Locksmith. It pierces Andromache's skin and then it latches onto her body. She and Rylee and Cavanaugh's apprentice Tobias step through the doorway that opens when the Locksmith is activated. Their mission is to find Andromache's father. They meet giant crabs, pirates, ferocious dinosaurs, London in a very different form (think steam punk) and a megalomaniac Pharoah. They find themselves in enormous danger, in prison cells and Andromache meets "other" versions of herself. The DNA idea is a curious one. Yes, Andromache shares her DNA with her father but there are others too. Surprises are in store. Luckily, it is easy to return to our world using the Locksmith until they reach the tech-powered new world in Egypt.
There is a huge twist at the end of this story which I am sure most readers will not anticipate and the very final scene is perfect - no need for a sequel - the story is complete.
Here are a few text quotes to give you a flavour of this writing:
"She was familiar. Really familiar ... It had taken far longer than it should have to recognise her. But then. I had never once seen myself looking like that. ... she was older. Not by a lot, maybe three or four years, but she stood a little taller than me and the way she carried herself was more ... adult, somehow. Looking at her, I felt like a gawky, clumsy kid. But as intimidating as she was to take in, there was also a weird kind of rushing exhilaration to it. Was she what I would grow into?"
"I had to know more. Not just about the other me, but about this world. It seemed incredible so far; beautiful and strange with wild technology and laws that looked as bizarre as they did brilliant."
"Everything I'd grown up believing had been destroyed, and I had nothing to take its place. Maybe, maybe, I could live with knowing my parents weren't good people. Maybe part of me would be relieved by it, because it would shatter the impossible stories I'd always had to live up to. But worse than that, was what I had discovered about myself."
Just a trivial point - The arch villain in this book is named Vincent Black - I kept thinking of the Harry Potter character Sirius Black.
Perhaps you are wondering about the name Andromache - it is pronounced An-drom-mack-key. Listen here.
- In Greek mythology, Andromache was the wife of Hector. Hector is one of the major characters in the Illiad.
- The name means 'man battler' or 'fighter of men' or 'man fighter' (there was also a famous Amazon warrior named Andromache).
- In Greek mythology, the people of Athens were at one point compelled by King Minos of Crete to choose 14 young noble citizens (seven young men and seven maidens) to be offered as sacrificial victims to the half-human, half-taurine monster Minotaur to be killed in retribution for the death of Minos' son Androgeos. Andromache, daughter of Eurymedon was one of the victims.
- It can also mean courage.
- And it is "a really annoying name that parents should think twice about naming their child."
Huge thanks to Three Sparrows Bookshop for this Advance Reader copy. I actually didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. Why? I thought it was a Young Adult title but now I would say it is for 11+. And I am not usually a fan of timeslip stories but this one is very well constructed, intriguing at times especially with the way the time device works, and it's an engrossing story. The writing really put me right inside each of the alternate worlds especially the one with the vicious dinosaurs! Andromache Between Worlds is due for publication in February 2024 (Harper Collins). Gabriel Bergmoser talks about his book here. You can read the publisher blurb in my recent blog post.
The first timeslip story I remember reading where the characters went back to various times in past history was this very old, long out of print, junior, funny book:
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