Playing Beatie Bow is set in Sydney and tells the story of Abigail Kirk, who accidentally travels back through time to 1873.

I hadn’t read this book previously, though according to instagram, it is widely regarded as an enjoyable read, and it really was! In the beginning of the book, when two of the main characters could see a little girl that seemingly no-one else could, I thought I saw what was coming…and I was maybe half right! In the twists and turns of finding ones footings in a different time, the book shows us how easily we take for granted the way we do things considered “normal”, and how alien they would seem to people from another time. It was also a study in not making assumptions – when the main protagonist is brought full circle to a connection rooted in her time in the past, what seemed a foregone conclusion at the time, instead failed to come to pass, with a different, unexpected outcome. A fun, easy, classic read. 4 stars.

Playing Beatie Bow was featured in the May 2019 Classic parcel from the NovelTea Book Club. If you’d like to learn more, or sign up to receive one of our monthly book & tea subscription parcels, please feel free to check out the rest of our website.