Lily Tripp: Diary of an Accidental Time Traveller
Thirteen-year-old Lily Tripp has been in love with Ollie all her life. Or should that be all her lives? While York in 2025 is where she feels at home, every New Year there is a risk she will find herself and her family and friends have been whisked to an earlier century.
A timeline included in her diary shows that this began when she turned nine and found herself in 1842, and in subsequent years travelled to 122 CE and 1922. At 12 Lily is back in her comfort zone of 2025. In the days leading up to New Year’s Eve, significant people in her life are introduced – her family, Ollie (with whom she shares book recommendations), best friend Poppy, the ambivalent Joseph and bête noire Georgia, all of whom appear in various guises in other times.
Then, on the brink of 2026, as Lily is wavering about telling Ollie how she feels, whoosh – they are transported to what she quickly discovers is 1621. On this occasion only three weeks lapse before she time travels again, just when the possibility of her being accused of being a witch emerges, this time to 1972.
While Lily has to learn the daily details of each new era she arrives in, it appears that those familiar to her do generally understand local mores. In 1621, Poppy believes that ‘new-fangled potatoes’ are ‘an evil root’. In 1972, Lily is puzzled by references to 45s and band names while her friends are already aware of these.
There are many interesting details related to 1621 and 1972 plus glimpses of customs prevalent in the other eras in which she has lived. The diary format incorporating lists of what Lily wants to find out and conversations in speech bubbles encourages swift movement through the book.
