Timekeeper Trilby Moffat’s highflying, hair-raising, non-stop adventures kept me glued to the pages far into the night. A brilliant story, it has exciting characters, dramatic situations and puzzling questions like What is going to happen next? Where is Time Keeper Trilby Moffat’s mother?

There are ideas, clues and cliff-hangers and Trilby has to navigate through it all. I enjoy Jasper Fforde and Jodi Taylor’s time travel books but Trilby takes it to another level of strangeness when she returns to the secret Island Between Time and investigates a time travellers festival suspiciously named Time Harvest Con. Of course, I am not the main reading audience for this book but it is easy to get hooked on the plot.

Among many inventive events, several digs at the adult world pop up e.g. Brian in a pink corporate shirt and a lanyard around his neck which reads ‘Assistant to the Assistant to the Assistant of Someone Much More Important’ a running joke. I have to add that Mr Colin, the archetypal baddie, is one of my favourites. Quote ‘Their eyes met, his grey like a dead pigeon, hers the colour of a summer cicada.’

Watch for interesting snippets e.g. ‘We made it out of shards of time treasures…the stuff that can’t be repaired or salvaged,’ added Beatie, and what about Tove, Thumbelina, Xipil, Arwen, recognise those names? Don’t miss a nod to Agatha Christie, flying prehistoric Anton, and find out what is stored in The Passage Of Time or bake cakes in a Time oven. But don’t eat cakes from strangers. Other beautifully inventive stuff kept me reading like Medical Grade Time Spray which has side effects.

I love the way ‘non-adult’ books can use squiggly writing to denote words like Time Swap, and add a chapter crossword puzzle with answers in the back of the book. Don’t worry if you haven’t read the first book in the series yet, this plot is exciting and soon sweeps you along. I do love the bookcover and when I read the related chapter and what the balloon contains I had shivers. Kate Temple is one genius author. I suggest buying this book for a classroom or young family then secretly reading it first.

❤ Gretchen Bernet-Ward

AUTHOR INFO: Kate Temple always wanted a promotion and a corner office with an assistant who wore a small dark poodle for a hat. This didn’t happen. Instead, Kate took on the perilous business of writing books for children. She has written more than twenty books with her writing partner, Jol, and The Perilous Promotion of Trilby Moffat is her second solo book. Kate lives in Sydney with her two children. When she is not writing, Kate enjoys eating cake, and so do the characters in this book.😊