posted on 29 Jul 2016

Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer

The original cover of this novel featured in the wonderful ' Puffin Books' postcard collection that I use with students and children at the Newman University Book Club. At the end of each club, the members are invited to select a card to add to their collection. Last time, one adult member shrieked with delight when he spotted Charlotte Sometimes on the table, grabbed it and told me and his nine year old daughter that this was one of his all time favourite children's books. They left the room with him enthusiastically explaining the plot to her and, as you might imagine, I rushed home to order a copy for myself straight away.

It is such a pleasing experience to settle into a book like this. As I read the first page I knew that I would definitely enjoy it. It is set in a familiar storybook boarding school environment with the newly arrived motherless thirteen year old Charlotte Makepeace trying to quell her fears about being in a strange place. She has been welcomed by an older girl Sarah who is very friendly and encourages her to choose a particular bed with little wheels by the dormitory window. This turns out to be some kind of time machine because she awakes the following morning to find herself in the same place but with different room mates, including a lively younger sister called Emily. As the morning progresses, she realises that she seems to be living sometime in the past where her name is now Clare, the facilities are much more basic, there are no aeroplanes flying overhead, the structure of the school and it's gardens are very different and there is mysterious talk of a war. Also, as is often the case in children's books, part of the strangeness includes a detailed description of the available food in the canteen which is truly horrible and ersatz. 

Charlotte wakes up back in her own time feeling very confused and believing that she has had a strangely vivid dream, until she realises that she has actually lost a day. And so the plot thickens and becomes much more complicated as it appears that she is not only time travelling back to 1918 every other day but also swopping places with another girl, Clare who physically resembles her! So she is Charlotte sometimes but at other times she is Clare. They begin to leave written messages for one another to be helpful to their survival in their unfamiliar worlds but soon both girls become increasingly exhausted by trying to live a secret double life. This becomes even more difficult when the girls of the earlier time become day pupils at the school and so Charlotte is no longer sleeping on the magic bed. Instead they are sent to live temporarily with the marvellously drawn Chisel Brown family, an eccentric bunch who would not be out of place in a Dickens novel.

This is clearly a story with the themes about coming of age, transition into the unknown and learning to feel confident about an emerging identity. In many ways it is a fantasy novel but one that is firmly grounded in a strong school story with some over strict school staff and consequent abundant camaraderie between the hard done by pupils in both time frames. I liked the way that the author conveys a powerful dreamlike  atmosphere from the outset that is somehow surreal but not at all uncomfortable. Whilst Charlotte is rather disconcerted by her circumstances, like Alice finding herself in Wonderland, she finds them curious and challenging. 

Reading the very interesting notes at the back of the 2013 Vintage Puffin edition, I learn that the author was herself a twin who was born 25 minutes after her sibling and a complete surprise to her parents. As a consequence she has always been fascinated with identity and this is a theme that she has often explored in her other novels. Several of the characters are also based on her own family and ancestors which probably contributes to the feeling of easy familiarity.

Penelope Farmer explains that although this is the third in a series of three, sometimes known as The Aviery Hall books, this is the one she is most often asked about because there is a famous song with the same title by The Cure that is based on the story. I found it really engaging and so will be thanking the friend who recommended it and certainly be looking out for the other two.

Karen Argent

July 2016