Robinsheugh

by Eileen Dunlop

Amid the stark hills and brooding mist of the scottish border country stood the house of Robinsheugh...

Tall, tranquil, ancient... the old house possessed a mysterious charm. And the longer Elizabeth walked the dark halls of the country home, the deeper she was drawn by the irresistible lure of its romantic past.

At first, the past was merely a strange obsession. But now it has become a reality -and Elizabeth is inexplicably trapped in the eighteenth century world of Robinsheugh. A world where dangers lurk in yesterday's reflections -and the hands of time offer no escape...

Genres: Fantasy, Time Travel, Historical Fiction, Ghosts, Young Adult, Fiction, Scotland

201 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Eileen Dunlop has lived in Scotland all her life. Born in Alloa, 13 October 1938, she was educated at Alloa Academy and Moray House College, Edinburgh.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my absolute favorite childhood books. It was also republished as "Robinsheugh". Wonderful time travel story and very well written.

[Capn · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Casually she rubbed its dusty surface on her sleeve, then as one does almost instinctively with a looking-glass, she held it up to look at herself. A moment passed before she realised that what she was seeing was not her own face. . .'

Robinsheugh stands in the Scottish Border Country, a region where the line between the past and the present seems curiously indefinite. Elizabeth Martin is sent there to spend a summer with an aunt who seems more concerned with Robinheugh's eighteenth-century owners than with her own niece, though a few years back the two of them had enjoyed a warm friendship. To Elizabeth, desperately lonely, unsure of herself and of others, the old house itself offers a strange alternative to misery - but one for which a harsh price has to be paid.

'It is dominated by the theme of the historical imagination and its power under certain circumstances to eclipse the present entirely. . . an impressive first book.'
The Times Literary Supplement

I have given absolutely dreadful books 4 star ratings because I loved them regardless of their poor quality. But this 4 star rating is because the book was quite well-written, certainly very thorough and contrived in its time-slip plot, but I didn't love it. It's one of those plodding, dreary books with a sullen teenage protagonist and cold, distant family members. Elizabeth Martin starts somewhat depressed and miserable, and then things get worse. They plateau, for awhile, as she discovers she can almost seamlessly slide into 18th century Robinsheugh as Elizabeth Melville. And then there's the odd discordant note on the spinet (harpischord-like piano precursor), and we're told that things are about to get much worse.

It makes me want to draw a graph to depict the action. I'll try to describe it:
\ _.
\_____ /
\_/

Don't know if that will take, but DOWN, DOWN, PLATEAU...(for a huge chunk of the book), DOWN, small plateau, UP to roughly where we were at the start, with much optimism for the future. Most of the action happens about 2/3 or even 3/4 of the way through, and it worsens before it improves, and even then... I can't say it's a feel good book. Maybe more of a 'feel better' book.

Much of it focusses on protracted, resentful, distended family relationships (mostly between Elizabeth and her absent-minded professor Aunt Kate; but also absent and aloof mothers (in both times, to varying degrees), physically absent fathers (in both times), and nearly incestuous sibling dynamics (18th century) with codependency issues). It's heavy stuff, and realistic enough to be, frankly, depressing.

Dunlop is also very thorough about her time-slip mechanics (or lack thereof) - no one could accuse her of just waving her hands and saying 'magic' as an explanation. Since I'm used to that lazy sort of writing, I found her conscientiousness on the subject rather dull, when I probably ought to have seen it as considerate and not insulting to the intellect.

This is a book for young historians in the making; attention-to-minutia types who want some magic and danger, but also a great deal of accuracy and realism in both the historical accounts and in the inter-personal relationships.

Doesn't quite ring my bell, but the darkness of the story at its completion was satisfying. It was just so grim getting there. If I had been in the right sort of mood, or setting (i.e. stuck out in the Scottish countryside with nothing else to do but read!), I might have enjoyed it better. But in comparison to the other MG/YA haunting books I've been reading this past month, this one was slow going.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time travel is one of my favorite genres, and I read this one when it was first published, and liked it, but didn't like it. There are parts of it that fit my ideas of how stories ought to go, and there are others that are very out of whack for me.

The Elizabeths are lovely, and sharing a body in the older time, totally works for me. Where it gets a little confusing is when one of the Elizabeths is hot for Robin. . . who is in the first time period her brother ! Toward the end it gets rather dark, with darling Robin becoming the bad guy, threatening Elizabeth. . . I was trying to figure out if he knew she was a different Elizabeth or not, and as a reader I felt rather bamboozled.

Still the story is atmospheric, evocative and full of old Scotland. I love the mirror as a vehicle, with the mansion itself as a portal. I wanted the first Robin to stay in his handsome, kind self and jump to the future with the current day Elizabeth. But towards the end everything is wrapped up with him in a disappointing way.

I did appreciate the mended fences between Elizabeth and her Aunt Kate. . .they both turned into completely different people, nice after all. By book's end I was rather wistful about knowing the rest of the story and how did it go in Italy. . . .?

So. A good-ish read, that left me shaking my head a little. Didn't put me off the author though, I will seek out her other books. . .rumor has it that A Flute on Mayferry Street is a good one to try.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this back when I was young, and I found it a bit too sad and scary for my taste. Enjoyed it more, perhaps, as a grown-up....

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite books growing up. It's a young adult novel, but the writing and subject and are sophisticated enough for adults to enjoy. About a young girl visiting her aunt who's researching a castle in Scotland who travels back in time to live as the other Elizabeth--the daughter of the family who inhabited the house in the late 18th century. I go back to this book again and again. The relationships have depth and the characters are distinctive and well-rounded in both the past and the present of the novel. This was Eileen Dunlop's first novel. She went on to write many more young adult novels, many of which are unfortunately out of print.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another of my childhood faves, which I recently re-read to 10 year old Ethan. I picked this obscure book out in a bookshop when I was around 12 and thought it was excellent. Again haunting and magical. Some of the themes about going back in time and being trapped in someone elses body freaked Ethan out. So maybe it should be for slightly older kids. The author is pretty much unknown, yet her story about a lonely 12 year old girl in the 70's who finds her self travelling back in time to become part of a family in 18th century Scotland was well researched and riveting. Always a relief to find, when you revisit a book some 33 years later!

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must have read this book 20 times when I was a teenager. I loved it. It's is set just outside of Edinburgh and switches between the present and the Victorian era. It is a book for teens, but I would recommend it to anyone.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a child, and have been searching for it ever since! I would love to read it again!

[LuAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was Dunlop's first novel--what a start! Intense and slightly disturbing, filled with foreshadowing. I'm so impressed with the depth of these characters and their relationships and the growth they undergo showing up from the start of her novel writing career. It's a shame these books are not more widely known. Compelling historical magical realism.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love time travel and parallel lives. It’s astonishing to me that I didn’t ever encounter this book as a kid, when it was still fairly new, because it would have been right up my alley. I appreciated the fairly dark tone of the novel and the ultimate redemption of Elizabeth and Kate. But the climax didn’t quite work for me. I’m very glad I read it, and it was a quick read so I believe I’ll re-read to see the story play out now that I know the final twist, but I had really hoped it was going to go a different direction.

Also, the older Elizabeth’s relationship with her brother seems meant to be innocent, that of a sister really looking up to her more grown-up brother (I was thinking of Georgiana and Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pride and Prejudice), but the author doesn’t turn the phrase quite right and it comes across more as a romantic crush. If I’d read this when I was 12 or so, and the target audience, I wouldn’t have noticed. But now it was a little…off.

[Shanu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this book. But I was outrageously disappointed in the story. It is certainly not what I expected it to be. I kept on dragging it for days to finish. i just couldn't bring myself up to finish it sooner. It can surely be avoided.

[Ygraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

was startled by this one; a little richer & grimmer than i expected, and more honestly moving ? v good on being a sour, awkward, unlikable and painfully lonely little girl who feels abandoned by adults to her secret other world ?

[Claudia McCarron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one. It's deeply atmospheric, has a strong emotional core, and there's a neat genre twist at the end where it goes from melancholy fantasy to something like horror. Would be a wonderful companion to the other great MG time travel book I discovered this year, Charlotte Sometimes.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth is gradually possessed by a hungry spirit while visiting her historian aunt in the Scottish lowlands.

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 2 out of 5]

D. fiction, YA, historical fiction, paranormal experiences, from stash, discard.

[Rosalind Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written for young adults. As a ghost/time travel story I found it a subtle yet engrossing read and enjoyed it enormously.

[Liz Blaufuss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! It took me years to find a copy of my own. Thank you, Abebooks.com!

I know this book as "Elizabeth, Elizabeth". Mine has the same cover art.

[Mumbler · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Still pretty great. Halfway now, but the problems to be resolved haven't defined for certain. It's hinted that that they will be, or include, being trapped in the past, and losing one's original identity. But those are not worries quite yet.

How Elizabeth, and the other Elizabeth, and Kate will relate, is fascinating. The ruined relation between Elizabeth 1 and Kate. The great parallel of Elizabeth 2 with Kate. Kate's problems, and the problems between her and her niece, are a great mystery.

How tragic it may be is wide open, and worrisome. It could leave any or even all of them trapped in despair, or dead. )

I hope for E and K to return to their wonderful close love. I think it's at least possible. If you start a book with a sour relationship that was once great, where else can you go?

I guess the answer to that is, to understand what went wrong, but not be able to fix it. Perhaps because Kate dies, from whatever is afflicting her.

[Sharon Zink · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story about a young girl visiting an old house in Scotland and experiencing time travel. I didn't know it would be about time travel, and I thought it would be a good book. There were too many explanations and descriptions.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

August 20, 1989
January 30, 2016

[Honestmitten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lent this book to cousins after I read it in 1977 - NEVER LEND A BOOK YOU ADORE .... 40 year later I found, bought and read it again and did my own time travelling!