Out of Time

Time Travelers #2

by Caroline B. Cooney

Annie Lockwood exists; everyone admits it. Everyone has seen her. But only Strat insists that Miss Lockwood traveled one hundred years back in time to be with them in 1895. Now Strat is paying an enormous His father has declared him insane and had him locked away in an asylum. When Time calls Annie back to save Strat, she does not hesitate, even though her family is falling apart and desperately needs her. Can Annie save the boy she loves, or will her choice keep her a trespasser out of time?


From the Paperback edition.

Genres: Young Adult, Time Travel, Historical Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Caroline Cooney knew in sixth grade that she wanted to be a writer when "the best teacher I ever had in my life" made writing her main focus. "He used to rip off covers from The New Yorker and pass them around and make us write a short story on whichever cover we got. I started writing then and never stopped!"
When her children were young, Caroline started writing books for young people -- with remarkable results. She began to sell stories to Seventeen magazine and soon after began writing books. Suspense novels are her favorites to read and write. "In a suspense novel, you can count on action."
To keep her stories realistic, Caroline visits many schools outside of her area, learning more about teenagers all the time. She often organizes what she calls a "plotting game," in which students work together to create plots for stories. Caroline lives in Westbrook, Connecticut and when she's not writing she volunteers at a hospital, plays piano for the school musicals and daydreams!
- Scholastic.com

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah yes, this is the book I remembered best, with the insane asylum and the sanatorium. Like the first in the series, a nice, fast, engrossing little YA historical/romance. Just the mindless, sweet fun I needed after this brutal week of reading about contracts law.

Last book, Strat and Annie’s romance was awfully brief, like Disney-brief, but I’m willing to accept it more than I would usually be, because I like their interaction.

I’m a little less sure on why Devonny, Strat’s sister, says she and Harriett also loved Annie. Like, you knew her for four days and she did and said nothing much of note to you, except to wreck your life plans. How does this constitute love?

I chuckled a little when I read about Annie buying not one but two Cokes in 1898 (they still put cocaine in it at that point). I kept waiting for her to get extra perky. Alas there was no note of this. I was sorely disappointed.

[Trin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh dear. This represents a serious drop in quality from its predecessor. Cooney allows the melodrama to totally take over: there are Victorian mental hospitals! And teenage girls struck down by tuberculosis! And dastardly dudes plotting dastardly deeds! With the rapid intercutting between various characters, all of whom are separated from each other for one reason or another, it even reads like a soap opera: short scene-short scene-dramatic sting! Commercial/chapter break.

I’m also annoyed that Cooney apparently decided she was writing herself into a corner with the ending of Both Sides of Time, in which Annie realizes she’s being thrust backward instead of back to the future. But rather than include even a two-line explanation on how Annie got herself out of that one, Cooney just decides to ignore it. NOT COOL.

I’d probably give up right here, except the next one (finally!) involves one of those crazy Strattons coming forward in time. Way to suck me back in, Cooney. Way to suck me back in.

[Lindsay Crandall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review originally posted on Tsundokuholic.

Pre-Reread Thoughts
I think it’s safe to say that the rest of this post will contain spoilers, so if you’re deeply invested in this 20 year old series and just started reading it you may want to stop here.

What I remember about this sequel is that Annie goes back to the 1890’s and finds that Strat has been sent to the loony bin by his father for claiming that Annie was from the future. This is weird because at the end of Both Side of Time all of the womenfolk are asking Annie about the future. Then again, Strat’s dad was all “WOMENFOLK HAVE PUDDING FOR BRAINS!” in the last book so I can see where he’d hesitate to hear their corroboration of Strat’s story. PLAIN is also packed off to a sanitarium where she is suffering from consumption (tuberculosis) and coughs up blood every time we see her. Guess what happens to PLAIN. No really, take a guess. Annie helps Strat escape and is then thrown back to the 90’s just in time for the Macarena to become a thing.

I loved this book as much as I loved Both Sides of Time when I read it as a middle-schooler. Considering how things went last time I did a reread, I predict that I’m going to find more faults with this book than I did as a tween. I just hope Strat and Annie aren’t as dull as they were in the last book. Will they cross Victorian first base (face-touching), second base (making kissy faces across the table), third base (a chaste kiss), and head straight to home (touching bare knees)?

Childhood Rating: 5 out of 5 bloody handkerchiefs

Post-Reread Thought
The book starts out by telling us that Annie’s going to NYC for a field trip and that the dress code is “fancy”, which means girls shouldn’t follow the “current trend” (in 1996) of wearing boxers over their jeans. Was this supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek critique of fashion at the time or did Queen Caroline really think this was a thing?? Oh, the 90’s, such a frightening time in fashion. So, Annie has an excuse to wear one of her nice dresses. Remember what happened the last time she wore a dress that outfancied the occasion?? She just happened to fall back to a time of fancy dress.

Add another entry to the “Reasons Why Annie Is the Worst” List because she uses her ex-boyfriend, Sean, for rides. Annie sometimes feels bad about this, which means there are other times where she doesn’t feel bad for blatantly using this guy who is obviously in love with her because she doesn’t have a car. She thinks it’s a shame he’s hot but has “no personality to go with it”. Pot, meet kettle. Sean even tells Annie not to look SO disgusted when he’s like “Seeya later!” and assures her he’s JUST coming to pick her up after school, not take her on a date. Oh, Sean…maybe let Annie find her own way home today buddy. She says she might stay in NYC, but her real mission is try to go back in time and find the Strattons at their NYC brownstone. Then she has this inner monologue about how she’s NOT going to go back in Time and ruin everyone’s lives even though that’s EXACTLY her goal. Annie is infuriating.

Meanwhile, in 1898, PLAIN is at a “cure cottage” in the Adirondacks. She and Strat affianced, and then she developed a Cough Trope. Consumption must have been the Victorian form of anorexia because PLAIN remembers how happy she was when she started getting flushed and shedding pounds when she first got The Cough. Then she hacked up a gallon of blood and was sent away for treatment. She wonders why Strat hasn’t responded to her letters, unaware that he’s locked up in an insane asylum for blathering on and on about his time traveling love, Annie. He spends his days with Katie, disfigured at birth (turns out to be a cleft palate and harelip), and Douglass, who can’t speak. They spend all of their time indoors being verbally and physically abused by Dr. Wilcott, who believes their afflictions are punishment from God. Strat has learned to obey his abusers in order to earn precious outdoor time.

Annie slips away from her school group and stumbles back through time, appearing right in front of Strat’s sister Devonny and his 1890’s dudebro best friend Walker. Devonny quickly distracts Walk, thanking him for his aid in getting Strat into the asylum, giving Annie all of the information she needs to get her caught up on the current situation. Annie cons her way into the Stratton’s apartment, and when Devonny finally returns she tells Annie to go to the asylum, prove she’s real, and bring Strat home since it’s all Annie’s fault in the first place. Annie goes for the gold medal for Horrible Person of the Year and thinks to herself “Why isn’t the maid packing any ball gowns?????????? I came here for ball gowns and glamour and romance!!! Eff this, I’m gonna go home. I didn’t sign up to rescue people.”

I kid you not. This is her thought process. Her supposed “true love” is in an asylum because she abandoned him and she doesn’t want to go save him because asylums aren’t glamorous enough????? Devonny’s maid Schmidt tells Annie she came to America from Germany by herself, so Annie should stop whining about going up the Hudson. Devonny also instructs Annie to bring Strat to PLAIN once she frees him so PLAIN can be cured by ~*~*~*LOVE*~*~*~. They sneak her out early in the morning to avoid Walk, but unfortunately his manservant lets him know about their unannounced visitor…

Walk sends Devonny off to California while he stalks Annie up the Hudson to Albany. She notices him before she disembarks and gives her luggage to a woman she met while on the steamboat, instructing her to tell Walk that Annie is being subdued in her state-room. Walk falls for the story and accompanies the woman aboard the boat while Annie slips off and hops a train to the asylum. Walk enters the stateroom, registers that Annie is not there, and promptly gets chloroformed. Not gonna lie, that part was pretty awesome.

After being denied a room at a hotel because she is an unaccompanied female, Annie manages to boss her way into a horse-drawn carriage bound for the asylum. She charms the pants off of Dr. Wilmott while posing as Devonny and has Strat brought to her. A telegram arrives from Walk but Annie distracts Dr. Wilmott from reading it, and she and Strat knock him out with a lamp. They escape out a window back to the carriage and take off to Saranac. Walk and Dr. Wilmott contact each other and alert the police who are able to intercept the carriage. Annie and Strat take off, promptly crash the carriage, and start a long slog to Saranac on foot. They are taken in by farmers and spend the night in front of the fire, where Annie tells Strat how his mother and Devonny tried to contact him in vain, and PLAIN’s circumstances. The next morning they head out to PLAIN’s sanitarium, even though Annie is hesitant to reunite the affianced pair.

Annie and Strat reach the sanitarium in time for PLAIN to die in Strat’s arms. Strat tells Annie that he loves her, but she must return to her time. He has no plans to return to his family after his father’s betrayal, and wants to go to Egypt and excavate tombs. Um….pretty sure you need a degree for that, even in the Victorian Era, Strat. They exchange “I love yous” and part, just in time for Annie, who has been mistaken for a servant, to be summoned to help Dr. Wilmott and Walk to a guest room. They strap her into a carriage and Walk takes off with her, laughing maniacally that she and Strat will be locked up together in the asylum. Then Charlie, PLAIN’s friend who had a crush on her, somehow manages to shoot and kill Walk with his rifle from afar. Annie impressively falls back not only through time, but place, and lands back home in Connecticut at the ruins of the Stratton mansion. Strat busts Katie and Douglass out of the asylum and they head off to Egypt together, masquerading as siblings. Thus ends this installment of the Time Travelers Quartet.

Annie remained insufferable throughout, pitching a fit after PLAIN’s death because she doesn’t like being treated like a servant. Funny how badly Annie wanted to go back to the 1890’s because she thought it was so glamorous and sophisticated and proper. “The good old days” are only good when you’re privileged, and Annie never bothered to think of that because she’s a superficial twit. Your true love’s childhood friend and fiancée just died in his arms and you have the gall to complain because someone asked you to carry a bag?? I’m surprised Strat didn’t just tell her to go the hell away at that point.

At least Strat matured a bit in this book, finally appreciating PLAIN and admitting that he does love her, perhaps not as lustily as he loves Annie, but enough to rush to her side after he’s just been busted out of the loony bin. He also feels badly about not standing up for Katie and Douglass in the asylum and makes sure to go back for them before escaping America for good. All Annie can worry about is how pampered she’s going to be and how many fancy dresses she’s going to wear. I guess this makes sense in the snippets we see of Annie’s family back in 1996. Annie’s mom fled to Tokyo on business and her dad is still carrying on his affair with his coworker. Papa Lockwood doesn’t even think of popping home to check in on his kids until his mistress dumps him when he flat-out tells her he has no plans to divorce, he just wants to keep seeing her on the side. His first thought when he sees that Annie isn’t around isn’t “Where the hell is my teenage daughter??” but “Who’s going to do my laundry for me if the womenfolk aren’t around?” Why is Annie SHOCKED by Mr. Stratton’s view of women when she was raised by this shining example of male chauvinism at home?

I’m not sure why I thought this book was so romantic because Annie and Strat are only physically together for like 2 chapters, the rest of the time they’re just pining for each other. I guess that when you’re 11, hopped up on brand new hormones, and have no idea how love really works, the mere idea of crushing on someone is overwhelmingly romantic. These books were obviously not written for adults so maybe I’m being too harsh. I did love this series at a point in my life. I loved them so much that I searched for years for another time travel romance to match my memories of Annie and Strat’s romance. It just would have been nice to have a less horrible protagonist to look back on.

Adulthood rating: 3 out of 5 rags soaked in ether

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decidedly more angst and melodrama than the first book. Now reads more like a teen soap opera. Still enjoyed the exploration of sexism across the centuries. 3.5 stars

[Amy Schmalbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

After re-reading Prisoner of Time, I couldn't stop there - this series has sucked me in again just like it did when I first read it as a kid back in the late '90s. I thought this installment was better than the first one - it skipped all the introductory character bits and got right to the meat of the story. Annie and Strat's romance was also already established so there was very little eye-rolling over their instantaneous "true love." The stakes were also higher in this one, and life was bleaker for most of the characters - Strat was imprisoned in a lunatic asylum, Harriet was dying of consumption, Devonny was under the thumb of the vile Walk Walkley, and Annie and Tod were dealing with their parents' separation.

I really appreciated how the consequences of Annie's actions were addressed - she took responsibility for the mess that she had caused and worked hard to overcome her selfish desires. She definitely matured from the first book to this one, as did Strat, who evolved from someone who cares only about pleasing himself to someone who cares about those less fortunate than himself and puts their needs above his own.

The story was very nicely paced and exciting - I zipped through this book in two days. I liked how the reader got to see things from secondary characters' perspectives once in a while - how Tod was managing at home without Annie, how Strat's fellow inmate was feeling, what Harriet's consumptive friends thought about her, what was going through the villains' heads, etc. The changing perspectives really helped to round out the story.

I am looking forward to re-reading Tod and Devonny's story next before going on one last adventure with Strat and Annie!

[Kittynelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was so good! Can't wait to read the other two.

[Jennie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the book that broke me. It finally happened. I think I’m sick of YA fiction. I’ve always wondered at what point my brain would just get completely sick of the trash I feed it and refuse to do my bidding. This is it. My brain no longer obeys me and, since I’ve finished this book, it’s not allowed me to pick up any other YA books. I’ve tried! My brain just won’t read YA anymore. I might be done with it, you guys, I’m not sure what my brain is doing.

(Or, you know, I just need a break from it. TELL ME, BRAIN, I NEED TO KNOW.)

Out of Time is the sequel to Both Sides of Time, a time travelling novel that makes time travel boring. Zing! Just kidding. But the time travel in these books is kind of, just, like magic? Like, there is really no way to control it and Annie, the main character, just kind of assumes it’ll work sometimes? But whatever, let’s talk about the book.

In Both Sides of Time, Annie traveled to 1895 and it turns out she sort of messed up everyone’s lives. Which happens a lot with time travel, I guess. The sequel delves into the problems she caused, namely the problem of Strat (her LOVAH) being committed to an asylum. By his father. Which is a total dick move and all, but Strat had been writing school papers about his lover from another century, AND EVEN WORSE, made a habit of wandering around the estate shouting Annie’s name into the nothingness. Who wouldn’t commit that guy?

Annie decides she’s going to travel back in time again during a class trip to NYC. She doesn’t know about the problems with Strat yet, but she really super wants to see him which seems to be a good enough reason for Time to send her back? Sure, whatever. While in the past, Annie again meets up with our old friends misogyny and MELODRAMA. But whatever, this book is for 12-year-olds and I guess they love that. Melodrama, not misogyny. I have no idea what 12-year-olds think about misogyny.

Anyway, lots of stuff happens that basically amounts to nothing except SPOILER ALERT Strat gets out of the asylum and runs away to Egypt with two of his asylum buddies. There’s also this whole subplot about Annie’s father having cheated on her mother and how he’s shacking up with the mistress and everyone hates him but they make up in the end somehow WHO CARES.

I guess there are two other novels in this series but I A) haven’t been able to find either of them at a used bookstore yet and B) I’m not sure I could bring myself to read them even if I did. I will, however, be adding The Face on the Milk Carton (also by Cooney) to my To Read (reread?) list because DO YOU REMEMBER THAT SHIT? Crazypants.

[Jean Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my review of Both Sides of time, it was a report I wrote for my book review project eons ago.
The Time Quartet really got me started on 'Cooney books', which my best friend and I spent hours poring over in excitement.

The second and third book goes on to tell of their love story that happens on and off, with Annie having to go back to the 1900s often. In the last book, Annie falls back too far in time and ends up in Ancient Egypt and at the same time, time beckons STrat to fall back when Annie calls on Time to help her bring him to her and then lands in ancient egypt too, where he saves Annie from being buried alive. They end up together, as all complete love stories should, i feel. I love Caroline B Cooney's stories, including her mysteries but especially her romance for she could make romance sound philosophical and deviates from the norm; the mushy disgusting make-you-puke-on-your-chair romance stories.

What i absolutely loved was Caroline B COoney's astute humour, making a joke out of everything without even sounding like trying to crack a pun. However, i don't understand why they call it a trilogy when there are three sequels to Both Sides of Time? But anyway, its such a lovely book you wouldn;t want to close the book once you open it. It is one of the best books ive read so far for it provides a link to the past and present, with love as its connector.

[Paige Meade · Rating 3 out of 5]

aw the ending made me kinda sad

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Onvan : Out of Time (Time Travelers, #2) - Nevisande : Caroline B. Cooney - ISBN : 0385729510 - ISBN13 : 9780385729512 - Dar 224 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 1996

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good continuation of the Time series by Caroline B. Cooney. It was suspenseful, but the conflicts were resolved at just the right time. The villains were successful but tripped up by the heroes and heroines at just the right time. I enjoyed the new characters, like Katie and Charlie, and I also thought Cooney continued to do well with the conventions of the time, such as the way asylums were run, the way Californians were thought of by New Yorkers, and the way people with consumption were treated. I liked the contrast between Annie's thoughts and speech, also reflected in the narrative during the parts from her perspective, and the thoughts and speech of the characters from the 19th century.
I'm curious to see what happens in the next two books in the series. I feel invested in the characters and curious about their lives. I'm happy that the next book is centered on Devonny and Todd, Strat's sister and Annie's brother, because Devonny was a big part of Both Sides of Time but didn't get much action in Out of Time, and Tod wasn't a main character in either book.
All together, a good series so far and one that I would definitely recommend.

[Enikő · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a crappy ending! Is there no century where a girl can finally get a break?!


I actually picked this book up second-hand because it shares a title with a movie I once saw, starring a very young Christopher Reeve. Needless to say, not the same story.

[Massie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty good. Interesting. I just love the characters.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fairly good second installment to Cooney's Time Travelers Quartet.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good story in this series. Not what I expected, but was still good.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

25+/25

[Imania Margria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book.

[Justen Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

i enjoyed these books in high school. would read again

[Angel Lederhause · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read these books a long time ago. This time it was good. It's a bittersweet story.

[Caitlin Kletz · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite series of all time and a great sequel to the first book :)

[Priscilla King · Rating 3 out of 5]

History is fun. Annie Lockwood, a romantic child of the 1990s, thought time-travelling to the more romantic 1890s would be fun. So instead of making Annie read a little more history, Cooney has her time-travel to the 1890s and see for herself how many aspects of that period were Anything But Fun. In the first volume Annie narrowly escaped back to her own time; in this volume, the cute boy with whom she shared a mutual attraction gets an inside view of a Victorian "sanitarium" because he's talked about the future and because mean people would like to cheat him out of his inheritance. Annie goes back to his time to help him escape. History is scary, but still fun.

I enjoyed it. I enjoy Cooney's simple, selfconsciously melodramatic, teen-friendly, self-deprecating tone, in her historical novels, her romances, and her horror stories. I collect her. Some teenagers might feel talked down to, because this series is pretty far-fetched and silly, but I'd expect most people who sit down with a time-travel romance will enjoy this one.

[Tatra Cooley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn't as good as the first one. It felt very soap opera-y, with all the quick character changes.
Also, the book was so frustrating! The things I wanted to happen, didn't happen! There was a lot of good that happened and I'm glad but ughhh!!!

I have the same thought with this book that I had with the first one, I wish it was longer, and re-written for an adult audience. (Come on, laying on a rug in front of a fireplace and you go to sleep??? Nooo!!!!)

The imagery of this book stuck with me for a long time, especially the idea of how they treated Consumption patients, and the sleighs in snow.

Overall- Good, not as good as the first. I'm definitely going to read the third book now.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second re-read of the Time Travelers series, which I obsessed over in middle school. This one was better. Probably my favorite of the four books. There was a much stronger plot. The characters had a little more depth. Annie was still a selfish brat, but she was also a 16 year old girl, so I’ll cut her some slack. Strat was great, his decisions were made well. He was honorable, in that he did get engaged to Harriette. There was sadness and hope in the end of the story.

The timeline was weird though because in the first book time ran parallel but in this one Strat’s time jumped about 3 years, while Annie’s only jumped maybe 6 months.

[Feather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate Walk!! A terrible friend, a terrible human being!

Strat is in an asylum, Harriet is on the bridge of death, and Devonnay is engaged to Walk.

Stratton Sr is a miserable excuse of a human being as well.

This book was ok, Annie and Strat reuniting was over the top and a tad dramatic.

Overall the story was ok and had a kind of happy ending

[Jane Fujiwara · Rating 4 out of 5]

So it’s small and possibly silly, but the ending of this book is just as good as I remembered it (from when I read it in the 90s). I don’t care about Annie or Strat or even Devonny. But I love love LOVE the “happily ever after” for Katie and Douglas! Though I never read the 4th book in the series so maybe not?

[Shelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not as good as the first novel in this series. I did not care for this one. It was pretty dark and depressing. Everyone’s lives were in turmoil.

There were a lot more slow parts too. It took me longer to get through this than expected.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a lot like the one became before, but the flaws are amplified, often past the point where you can pin them just on Annie as an unreliable narrator. It's an easy read and it hits the beats it needs to hit, but a lot of the plotlines do feel kind of forced

[Samantha Shaffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical time travel these books are a fun YA read. Annie and Strat will have you fighting for their love till the end of time.

[Jan Yarnot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Men don’t come out very well in this series!

[Robin Ferguson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teen time traveler ... tricky twists.