Tanglewreck

Something frightening is happening to time. Time tornadoes are ripping people from the present, never to return them, while a woolly mammoth inexplicably appears on banks of the River Thames. Eleven-year-old Silver and her guardian live in a house called Tanglewreck, which is somehow at the center of these mysterious time warps. A strange heirloom called the Timekeeper is hidden somewhere in the house, and Silver must find it and protect it because whoever gets hold of the Timekeeper will have the power to control time-and life as we know it-forever. Reviews praise the exhilarating adventure, the historical and scientific allusions, and the well-developed characters. The story is described as appealing to fantasy and science-fiction fans, with touches of humor, chaos, excitement, and a bittersweet resolution. It combines rousing adventure with quantum physics, reminiscent of works by Madeline L'Engle and Lemony Snicket, and features a plucky hero similar to those in Neil Gaiman and Philip Pullman's books.