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Aviary Hall #3
Charlotte Sometimes
A time-travel story that is both a poignant exploration of human identity and an absorbing tale of suspense.
It’s natural to feel a little out of place when you’re the new girl, but when Charlotte Makepeace wakes up after her first night at boarding school, she’s baffled: everyone thinks she’s a girl called Clare Mobley, and even more shockingly, it seems she has traveled forty years back in time to 1918. In the months to follow, Charlotte wakes alternately in her own time and in Clare’s. And instead of having only one new set of rules to learn, she also has to contend with the unprecedented strangeness of being an entirely new person in an era she knows nothing about. Her teachers think she’s slow, the other girls find her odd, and, as she spends more and more time in 1918, Charlotte starts to wonder if she remembers how to be Charlotte at all. If she doesn’t figure out some way to get back to the world she knows before the end of the term, she might never have another chance.
It’s natural to feel a little out of place when you’re the new girl, but when Charlotte Makepeace wakes up after her first night at boarding school, she’s baffled: everyone thinks she’s a girl called Clare Mobley, and even more shockingly, it seems she has traveled forty years back in time to 1918. In the months to follow, Charlotte wakes alternately in her own time and in Clare’s. And instead of having only one new set of rules to learn, she also has to contend with the unprecedented strangeness of being an entirely new person in an era she knows nothing about. Her teachers think she’s slow, the other girls find her odd, and, as she spends more and more time in 1918, Charlotte starts to wonder if she remembers how to be Charlotte at all. If she doesn’t figure out some way to get back to the world she knows before the end of the term, she might never have another chance.
208 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1969
87 people are currently reading
4390 people want to read
About the author
Penelope Farmer
45 books69 followersPenelope Jane Farmer is an English fiction writer well known for children's fantasy novels. Her best-known novel is Charlotte Sometimes (1969), a boarding-school story that features a multiple time slip.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 487 reviews
March 30, 2008
I will fully admit that I didn't discover this book in the traditional way.
I have to admit to being a HUGE fan of the Cure. Yup. That's 80's quasi-gothy band, lead by Robert Smith. What can I say, I've always liked boys in makeup.
One of my favorite songs by the Cure was always Charlotte Sometimes. I didn't have a clue that the song title was taken from a book, and that lines from the book were used in the song, as well as in the song The Empty World (She talked about the armies, that marched inside her head).
I had just graduated from high school, and was working at a Girl Scout summer camp in Vermont. They had a large building with a stage that had the back wall covered in bookshelves. It was a rainy day so the councilors were letting the kids run amok in the building. Me, being bored to tears by the rain and driven crazy by the kids running amok decided to check out the bookshelves.
The title Charlotte Sometimes caught my eye and grabbed the book to read in my tent later.
Once I read the book, and fell in love with it, I had to get my own copy so I could share it with all of my Cure loving friends.
It's still one of my favorite books, and it still puts me in the mood to listen to the Cure.
I have to admit to being a HUGE fan of the Cure. Yup. That's 80's quasi-gothy band, lead by Robert Smith. What can I say, I've always liked boys in makeup.
One of my favorite songs by the Cure was always Charlotte Sometimes. I didn't have a clue that the song title was taken from a book, and that lines from the book were used in the song, as well as in the song The Empty World (She talked about the armies, that marched inside her head).
I had just graduated from high school, and was working at a Girl Scout summer camp in Vermont. They had a large building with a stage that had the back wall covered in bookshelves. It was a rainy day so the councilors were letting the kids run amok in the building. Me, being bored to tears by the rain and driven crazy by the kids running amok decided to check out the bookshelves.
The title Charlotte Sometimes caught my eye and grabbed the book to read in my tent later.
Once I read the book, and fell in love with it, I had to get my own copy so I could share it with all of my Cure loving friends.
It's still one of my favorite books, and it still puts me in the mood to listen to the Cure.
November 10, 2011
Great fun! I’d have adored this when I was 9, 10, 11. My 10 year old self gives this 5 full stars. If I wasn’t so in touch with my 10 year old self, I might have given this only 4 stars, but it’s a completely delightful and smart story.
It’s very suspenseful. It’s a fun meld of speculative fiction and historical fiction. Some aspects are ingenious. It was fun to try to figure out who one particular character was.
Charlotte is a wonderful character, and I was particularly fond of Emily. The mostly absent Clare was fascinating too. As a kid I would have loved putting myself in Charlotte’s place and in Emily’s place, and it was interesting even now.
Wonderful story of one’s identity and exactly what that means, of boarding school, of details about WWI and the late 1950s too. This is a skillfully told story, compelling from beginning to end, and very touching throughout.
When I was a kid I used to love this author’s book The Summer Birds; I’m so glad I read this one for the Goodreads’ group: A Thrilling Term at Goodreads: The Girls’ School-Story Group.
It’s very suspenseful. It’s a fun meld of speculative fiction and historical fiction. Some aspects are ingenious. It was fun to try to figure out who one particular character was.
Charlotte is a wonderful character, and I was particularly fond of Emily. The mostly absent Clare was fascinating too. As a kid I would have loved putting myself in Charlotte’s place and in Emily’s place, and it was interesting even now.
Wonderful story of one’s identity and exactly what that means, of boarding school, of details about WWI and the late 1950s too. This is a skillfully told story, compelling from beginning to end, and very touching throughout.
When I was a kid I used to love this author’s book The Summer Birds; I’m so glad I read this one for the Goodreads’ group: A Thrilling Term at Goodreads: The Girls’ School-Story Group.
May 31, 2018
Charlotte Makepeace starts at boarding school, I am guessing sometime in the 1950s. To add to her troubles of fitting in at a new school, she finds that she is changing places on alternate days with a girl who was alive during the first world war. Charlotte is confused and starts to wonder who she really is.
This is a beautifully written book, very thoughtful and philosophical. I am very sorry not to have read it as a child, but hugely enjoyed reading it aloud to my daughter and discussing the story's ideas. Although we have read many books about children in World War II, this was the first we had read about the first war and felt this was sensitively written, describing the family devastated by the loss of their son, and how he had always dreampt of the glory of war and found the reality much different.
The story takes some interesting twists and turns, and gives you lots to think about.
This is a beautifully written book, very thoughtful and philosophical. I am very sorry not to have read it as a child, but hugely enjoyed reading it aloud to my daughter and discussing the story's ideas. Although we have read many books about children in World War II, this was the first we had read about the first war and felt this was sensitively written, describing the family devastated by the loss of their son, and how he had always dreampt of the glory of war and found the reality much different.
The story takes some interesting twists and turns, and gives you lots to think about.
February 18, 2015
I would have loved this book to bits when I was ten years old. It has so many good things in it - time travel, boarding school, some nice historical facts , possibly a few ghosts........all good fun! Reading it now though it is quite clearly a children's book (not YA) and as such is a little bland and lacking in real action. So for me this was an excellent children's book, well written and entertaining although of course also old fashioned.
March 7, 2012
I’ve recently read “Charlotte Sometimes” if for no other reason than to compare The Cure lyrics of their classic song Charlotte Sometimes to parts of the children’s fantasy. This is what I learned and it’s very interesting. ***Spoiler Alter***
All the faces, All the voices blur
Change to one face, Change to one voice
First sentence: By bedtime all the faces, the voices, had blurred for Charlotte to one face, one voice.
Prepare yourself for bed
Second sentence: She prepared herself for bed . . . .
The light seems bright, And glares on white walls
Book 2nd paragraph, 6th sentence: The light seemed to bright for them, glaring on white walls . . . .
All the sounds of
Book 4th paragraph, 4th sentence: All the sounds about her . . . .
Charlotte sometimes
Into the night with
Charlotte sometimes
Book 5th paragraph, 1st sentence: She must have slept at last . . . .
Night after night she lay alone in bed
Her eyes so open to the dark
Part II, chapter 4, 1st sentence: Night after night, Charlotte lay in bed with her eyes open to the dark . . . .
The streets all looked so strange
They seemed so far away
But Charlotte did not cry
Part II, chapter 4, paragraph 15, 1st sentence: The streets looked strange . . . .
The people seemed so close
Playing expressionless games
Part II, chapter 2, paragraph 24, 3rd sentence: Charlotte, on the other hand, became absorbed, concentrating wholly on her fingers’ easing . . . .
The people seemed so close
So many other names
Part II, chapter 2, paragraph 37: “Good night, Mr. Chisel Brown,” she said with almost a curtsy. “Good night, Mrs. Chisel Brown. Good night, Miss Agnes Chisel Brown. Good night, cat. Good night, dog . . ..”
When all the other people dance - Reference to school dance
Expressionless the trance - Reference to séance
So many different names - Reference to names of Brown family
The sounds all stay the same - Reference to airplane sounds overhead
On a different world - Past where Charlotte travels
On that bleak track
(See the sun is gone again)
The tears were pouring down her face
She was crying and crying for a girl
Who died so many years before
Part III, chapter 2, paragraph 53, 1st sentence: On that bleak track, the sun almost gone again, tears were pouring down her face. She was crying and crying for a girl for a girl who had died more than 40 years before.
Charlotte sometimes crying for herself
Part III, chapter 7, paragraph 13, last sentence: She began crying bitterly, could not stop . . . .
Charlotte sometimes dreams a wall around herself
Part III, chapter 7, paragraph 10, 1st sentence: She dreamed she stood below the picture, The Mark of the Beast, and there were soldiers all around her in red uniforms, stiff as toys but tall as men. There were dolls, too, like Miss Agnes’s doll, as tall as the soldiers . . .
Glass sealed and pretty
Part III, chapter 7, paragraph 15, 4th sentence: And when she looked at the wall at the picture glass, it looked quite empty, as if a mirror hung there, not a picture at all.
Two other songs by The Cure, Splintered in Her Head and The Empty World, are based on “Charlotte Sometimes.” You can check out my analysis of those lyrics on my blog: www.AndrewBarger.blogspot.com. Thanks!
All the faces, All the voices blur
Change to one face, Change to one voice
First sentence: By bedtime all the faces, the voices, had blurred for Charlotte to one face, one voice.
Prepare yourself for bed
Second sentence: She prepared herself for bed . . . .
The light seems bright, And glares on white walls
Book 2nd paragraph, 6th sentence: The light seemed to bright for them, glaring on white walls . . . .
All the sounds of
Book 4th paragraph, 4th sentence: All the sounds about her . . . .
Charlotte sometimes
Into the night with
Charlotte sometimes
Book 5th paragraph, 1st sentence: She must have slept at last . . . .
Night after night she lay alone in bed
Her eyes so open to the dark
Part II, chapter 4, 1st sentence: Night after night, Charlotte lay in bed with her eyes open to the dark . . . .
The streets all looked so strange
They seemed so far away
But Charlotte did not cry
Part II, chapter 4, paragraph 15, 1st sentence: The streets looked strange . . . .
The people seemed so close
Playing expressionless games
Part II, chapter 2, paragraph 24, 3rd sentence: Charlotte, on the other hand, became absorbed, concentrating wholly on her fingers’ easing . . . .
The people seemed so close
So many other names
Part II, chapter 2, paragraph 37: “Good night, Mr. Chisel Brown,” she said with almost a curtsy. “Good night, Mrs. Chisel Brown. Good night, Miss Agnes Chisel Brown. Good night, cat. Good night, dog . . ..”
When all the other people dance - Reference to school dance
Expressionless the trance - Reference to séance
So many different names - Reference to names of Brown family
The sounds all stay the same - Reference to airplane sounds overhead
On a different world - Past where Charlotte travels
On that bleak track
(See the sun is gone again)
The tears were pouring down her face
She was crying and crying for a girl
Who died so many years before
Part III, chapter 2, paragraph 53, 1st sentence: On that bleak track, the sun almost gone again, tears were pouring down her face. She was crying and crying for a girl for a girl who had died more than 40 years before.
Charlotte sometimes crying for herself
Part III, chapter 7, paragraph 13, last sentence: She began crying bitterly, could not stop . . . .
Charlotte sometimes dreams a wall around herself
Part III, chapter 7, paragraph 10, 1st sentence: She dreamed she stood below the picture, The Mark of the Beast, and there were soldiers all around her in red uniforms, stiff as toys but tall as men. There were dolls, too, like Miss Agnes’s doll, as tall as the soldiers . . .
Glass sealed and pretty
Part III, chapter 7, paragraph 15, 4th sentence: And when she looked at the wall at the picture glass, it looked quite empty, as if a mirror hung there, not a picture at all.
Two other songs by The Cure, Splintered in Her Head and The Empty World, are based on “Charlotte Sometimes.” You can check out my analysis of those lyrics on my blog: www.AndrewBarger.blogspot.com. Thanks!
June 7, 2018
I never heard of Penelope Farmer prior to reading Charlotte Sometimes, but now I want to track down all her books and read them. Charlotte Sometimes is her most famous novel and even has a song based on it by The Cure. Charlotte Makepeace is sent to an English boarding school in 1958. Every other day she wakes up to find that it is 1918 and everyone thinks she is Clare Mobley – even Clare’s sister Emily. When Charlotte (as Clare) is sent to board with a family in town, she becomes trapped in 1918. World War I is an important part of the book. Charlotte/Clare stays with a family that has lost their only son in the war. Charlotte sees the wounded soldiers returning from the war, the prejudice and cruelty of the boarding school girls toward a student that is half-German, spies on a séance that her boarding family holds hoping to contact their dead son and celebrates Armistice Day.
I’m attaching a link to a video of The Cure’s song Charlotte Sometimes. The first part of the video reminds me of the creepy front cover of the book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wih15...
I’m attaching a link to a video of The Cure’s song Charlotte Sometimes. The first part of the video reminds me of the creepy front cover of the book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wih15...
August 21, 2018
A wonderful and unusual time travel story. Another one that I missed as a child and was glad to find as an adult.
August 3, 2022
So while I most definitely do tend to think that Penelope Farmer’s 1969 time slip/school story Charlotte Sometimes could basically be approached as a stand-alone novel, upon completion, I also do have to wonder if I had read the first two novels of Farmer’s Aviary Hall series, if I had perused The Summer Birds and Emma in Winter (which I do still intend to do) prior to commencing with Charlotte Sometimes, I might have already and from the previous two accounts had a bit of a feeling for and understanding and appreciation of Charlotte Makepeace as a person (both internally and externally) and not taken so long (probably requiring around forty percent of Penelope Farmer’s text) to both get into Charlotte Sometimes and to also become sufficiently acquainted with main protagonist Charlotte on an intimate and personal reading pleasure level. For while I actually did start personally enjoying Charlotte Makepeace more and more the further along I got with Charlotte Sometimes I do kind of think that reading the third of the Aviary Hall novels before the first two (or like me not having actually read the first two series stories) kind of does rather tend to throw a reader right into Charlotte Makepeace as a character, as a person in medias res so to speak, with me finding until Charlotte and Clare get stranded (in the past for Charlotte Makepeace and in the future for Clare Moby) that Charlotte is not really all that interesting (and especially if compared to Clare Moby’s sister Emily), as Penelope Farmer does seem to write more about Emily than about Charlotte at first (and perhaps because she assumes her readers to already know enough about the latter from the previous two Aviary Hall instalments).
Therefore and indeed, I also do have to thus wonder if this feeling of not really knowing all that much about and not being given all that many narrational details about Charlotte Makepeace at the beginning of Charlotte Sometimes might have been avoided if I had in fact previously read The Summer Birds and Emma in Winter and if the first two series novels do give readers an introduction to Charlotte Makepeace that is kind of missing in Charlotte Sometimes (as I do find Charlotte pretty scantily and uninterestingly depicted when Penelope Farmer first has her come to boarding school and even during her first time slip changes with Clare, that Charlotte Makepeace is present but not all that much being described in-depth, and that perhaps Penelope Farmer kind of until Charlotte is stranded in the past and Clare in the future rather assumes prior reading knowledge of in particular what Charlotte Makepeace is generally like and does not feel the need to expand on this all that much).
Now with regard to Charlotte Sometimes post when the two girls get respectively stranded (and yes, it also kind of does annoy me that one never really gets to know almost anything substantial about Clare, that Penelope Farmer in my opinion makes Clare Moby appear as rather a total nonentity throughout, that we readers only ever learn about her second rate so to speak, so that even Clare’s death from the Spanish Flu is basically just a related, a told story), yes indeed, my reading joy has greatly ended up increasing in parts two and three of Charlotte Sometimes, as in particular the questions Charlotte has and poses about her and general identity are both interesting and majorly and delightfully thought provoking, but frankly, for a middle grade novel also quite sophisticated. And I in fact do think I would as a tween or teenager have felt a bit lost and confused reading in particular the parts where Charlotte Makepeace is stranded in the past and unsure of who she actually is, since even reading Charlotte Sometimes as an older adult has personally speaking sometimes felt a bit befuddling and me having to stop and reconsider and wonder (not to mention that practical me also does wonder why Emily and Charlotte, acting as Clare, would not have considered trying to get Charlotte into that special time slippage bed AFTER ALL danger from the influenza pandemic were over and done with, but of course I am likely approaching this with too much non internal to Charlotte Sometimes knowledge and of course with me also rather desiring a good and positive ending for Clare as well, and not to have her die of the influenza pandemic).
So in closing, my final impressions of Charlotte Sometimes are that I have definitely found Emily Moby a slightly more enjoyable and interesting character than Charlotte Makepeace (and also of course Clare Moby), but that Charlotte definitely not only has continually grown on me throughout Charlotte Sometimes, and with her, with Charlotte in particular in parts two and three more and more both reminding me of myself and feeling increasingly personally approachable (since as much as I do find Emily Moby interesting and fun as a character, I actually do find both Charlotte Makepeace and Clare Moby more akin and alike to me spiritually and emotionally with their tendency towards introversion and introspection and would find someone as generally extroverted as Emily Moby actually quite massively exhausting in the long run).
Therefore and indeed, I also do have to thus wonder if this feeling of not really knowing all that much about and not being given all that many narrational details about Charlotte Makepeace at the beginning of Charlotte Sometimes might have been avoided if I had in fact previously read The Summer Birds and Emma in Winter and if the first two series novels do give readers an introduction to Charlotte Makepeace that is kind of missing in Charlotte Sometimes (as I do find Charlotte pretty scantily and uninterestingly depicted when Penelope Farmer first has her come to boarding school and even during her first time slip changes with Clare, that Charlotte Makepeace is present but not all that much being described in-depth, and that perhaps Penelope Farmer kind of until Charlotte is stranded in the past and Clare in the future rather assumes prior reading knowledge of in particular what Charlotte Makepeace is generally like and does not feel the need to expand on this all that much).
Now with regard to Charlotte Sometimes post when the two girls get respectively stranded (and yes, it also kind of does annoy me that one never really gets to know almost anything substantial about Clare, that Penelope Farmer in my opinion makes Clare Moby appear as rather a total nonentity throughout, that we readers only ever learn about her second rate so to speak, so that even Clare’s death from the Spanish Flu is basically just a related, a told story), yes indeed, my reading joy has greatly ended up increasing in parts two and three of Charlotte Sometimes, as in particular the questions Charlotte has and poses about her and general identity are both interesting and majorly and delightfully thought provoking, but frankly, for a middle grade novel also quite sophisticated. And I in fact do think I would as a tween or teenager have felt a bit lost and confused reading in particular the parts where Charlotte Makepeace is stranded in the past and unsure of who she actually is, since even reading Charlotte Sometimes as an older adult has personally speaking sometimes felt a bit befuddling and me having to stop and reconsider and wonder (not to mention that practical me also does wonder why Emily and Charlotte, acting as Clare, would not have considered trying to get Charlotte into that special time slippage bed AFTER ALL danger from the influenza pandemic were over and done with, but of course I am likely approaching this with too much non internal to Charlotte Sometimes knowledge and of course with me also rather desiring a good and positive ending for Clare as well, and not to have her die of the influenza pandemic).
So in closing, my final impressions of Charlotte Sometimes are that I have definitely found Emily Moby a slightly more enjoyable and interesting character than Charlotte Makepeace (and also of course Clare Moby), but that Charlotte definitely not only has continually grown on me throughout Charlotte Sometimes, and with her, with Charlotte in particular in parts two and three more and more both reminding me of myself and feeling increasingly personally approachable (since as much as I do find Emily Moby interesting and fun as a character, I actually do find both Charlotte Makepeace and Clare Moby more akin and alike to me spiritually and emotionally with their tendency towards introversion and introspection and would find someone as generally extroverted as Emily Moby actually quite massively exhausting in the long run).
January 20, 2012
4.5 STARS
Penelope Farmer is an author who captured "the mysterious emotions of children, their uneasy relationships, and the sometimes terrifying awareness of their encompassing worlds." -- Ruth Hill Viguers, Horn Book.
"Charlotte Sometimes" is an intensely thoughtful, emotional story about Charlotte Makepeace, a young teenager attending boarding school in about 1950 in the English countryside. When she falls asleep in her new dormitory, in a strange bed with wheels, she awakens to find herself in the autumn of 1918, in the same dormitory, in the last months of WWI. She learns that she has traded places with someone called Clare Moby. As Clare and Charlotte sleep, they trade places, back and forth between the times. They are ostensibly so alike that no one notices they are not the same person. Clare thinks of keeping a journal so they can communicate with one another. She also urges Charlotte to be kind to Clare's younger sister, Emily. But Emily is keenly observant, and soon realizes that the "Clare" who sometimes awakens in the bed is not her sister Clare. Emily helps Charlotte make sense of the world in 1918, and they form a strong bond when, after the school dorms are used to house influenza victims, the Moby girls are sent to stay with the Chisel-Browns. Mr. and Mrs. Chisel-Brown are coping (poorly, and in diverse ways) with the recent death of their son, who was killed on the front. Their spinster daughter Agnes, however, takes to Emily and Charlotte and helps make their time there more pleasant. Yet, being away from the dorm at the school means that Charlotte and Clare can no longer switch places. Charlotte goes from being Charlotte sometimes to being Clare all the time. Will Charlotte ever get back to her own time, and to being herself?
It is very difficult for me to write a review of this book. I loved so many things about it. It is written in such a thoughtful, engaging and lovely way. The prose is never too complex, but it does a fine job conveying a sense of atmosphere, era, and the essence of the characters. I especially appreciated Charlotte's introspective nature, her internal battle to remain Charlotte, to find courage, and to understand bravery. And her external battle to keep Emily happy, to be kind and good, and to understand the world she found herself so strangely thrust into.
I am not sure this is the sort of story that will appeal to many young readers these days, unfortunately. It is was, sadly, out of print but I understand it has recently been reprinted and I hope those readers, young and old, who seek a thoughtful and engaging story will seek it out. I think it might appeal to fans of L. M. Montgomery, who enjoy introspective heroines and this era in history.
This is apparently one of three books about Charlotte and her sister Emma in the "Avery Hall" series the other two being The Summer Birdsand Emma in Winter. I have not read the other books and do not feel my appreciation suffered in consequence. I think it could be read as a stand-alone.
Those looking for other thoughtful time-travel stories about a girl transported to an earlier time of war might also like The Root Cellar (Canadian girl, transported to the Civil War)
(January selection with Girls' School Story Group)
Penelope Farmer is an author who captured "the mysterious emotions of children, their uneasy relationships, and the sometimes terrifying awareness of their encompassing worlds." -- Ruth Hill Viguers, Horn Book.
"Charlotte Sometimes" is an intensely thoughtful, emotional story about Charlotte Makepeace, a young teenager attending boarding school in about 1950 in the English countryside. When she falls asleep in her new dormitory, in a strange bed with wheels, she awakens to find herself in the autumn of 1918, in the same dormitory, in the last months of WWI. She learns that she has traded places with someone called Clare Moby. As Clare and Charlotte sleep, they trade places, back and forth between the times. They are ostensibly so alike that no one notices they are not the same person. Clare thinks of keeping a journal so they can communicate with one another. She also urges Charlotte to be kind to Clare's younger sister, Emily. But Emily is keenly observant, and soon realizes that the "Clare" who sometimes awakens in the bed is not her sister Clare. Emily helps Charlotte make sense of the world in 1918, and they form a strong bond when, after the school dorms are used to house influenza victims, the Moby girls are sent to stay with the Chisel-Browns. Mr. and Mrs. Chisel-Brown are coping (poorly, and in diverse ways) with the recent death of their son, who was killed on the front. Their spinster daughter Agnes, however, takes to Emily and Charlotte and helps make their time there more pleasant. Yet, being away from the dorm at the school means that Charlotte and Clare can no longer switch places. Charlotte goes from being Charlotte sometimes to being Clare all the time. Will Charlotte ever get back to her own time, and to being herself?
It is very difficult for me to write a review of this book. I loved so many things about it. It is written in such a thoughtful, engaging and lovely way. The prose is never too complex, but it does a fine job conveying a sense of atmosphere, era, and the essence of the characters. I especially appreciated Charlotte's introspective nature, her internal battle to remain Charlotte, to find courage, and to understand bravery. And her external battle to keep Emily happy, to be kind and good, and to understand the world she found herself so strangely thrust into.
I am not sure this is the sort of story that will appeal to many young readers these days, unfortunately. It is was, sadly, out of print but I understand it has recently been reprinted and I hope those readers, young and old, who seek a thoughtful and engaging story will seek it out. I think it might appeal to fans of L. M. Montgomery, who enjoy introspective heroines and this era in history.
This is apparently one of three books about Charlotte and her sister Emma in the "Avery Hall" series the other two being The Summer Birdsand Emma in Winter. I have not read the other books and do not feel my appreciation suffered in consequence. I think it could be read as a stand-alone.
Those looking for other thoughtful time-travel stories about a girl transported to an earlier time of war might also like The Root Cellar (Canadian girl, transported to the Civil War)
(January selection with Girls' School Story Group)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 18, 2019
School-story, time-slip novel, and third entry in Penelope Farmer's "Aviary Hall" series - a trilogy of loosely connected children's fantasies, following the fortunes of sisters Charlotte and Emma Makepeace as they learn to fly (
The Summer Birds
); travel, in Emma's case, back to the very beginning of life on earth (
Emma in Winter
); and, in Charlotte's, switch places with a fellow student from forty years before (here) - Charlotte Sometimes is a brilliant exploration of identity, and a sensitive depiction of a girl who feels somewhat out of place, even when not out of time. The tale of Charlotte's first term at boarding school, in which she alternately wakes up as herself, in the (then) current time, and as Clare Moby, a pupil at the same school, in 1918, it touches on issues of perception, of others and of self, and how the two are intertwined:
"Perhaps we never looks at people properly," muses Charlotte, as she considered how easy it has been for her to step into Clare's shoes (and for Clare to step into her shoes, in the present/future), asking: "what would happen if people did not recognize you? Would you know who you were yourself? If tomorrow they started to call her Vanessa or Janet or Elizabeth or Elizabeth, would she know how to be, how to feel, like Charlotte? Were you some particular person only because people recognized you as such?" These are questions that Charlotte struggles with, particularly when an unexpected turn of events strands her in 1918, and it begins to look like she might not get home to her own time. Just who is she, anyway? Charlotte? Clare? Or sometimes one or the other...?
Although somewhat different in feeling, than the earlier two Aviary Hall books, whose strange, eldritch enchantment I found utterly absorbing, this time-slip fantasy is just as appealing, in its own way - its fantasy believable, not because of magical atmosphere or extraordinary character, but because of its matter-of-fact juxtaposition with reality. I appreciated the depiction of WWI England, and the way - in stark contrast to some of the children's novels (and school stories!) of that actual time - it refused to romanticize or glorify that conflict. I was engaged by Charlotte's struggle to remain herself, something made more difficult by her uncertainty as to just who that self was. Finally, I was reminded of my all-time favorite time-slip novel, Philippa Pearce's classic Tom's Midnight Garden, and was happily surprised (and terribly moved) by the differences in ending, with Clare's death, so soon after switching places, for the final time, with Charlotte; and the lack of meeting with the now grown-up Emily, whose communication with Charlotte is conducted through letter. All in all, an outstanding children's novel, one I would recommend to all school story lovers, and fans of time-slip adventures. I can see why The New York Review Children's Collection recently chose it to be reprinted!
"Perhaps we never looks at people properly," muses Charlotte, as she considered how easy it has been for her to step into Clare's shoes (and for Clare to step into her shoes, in the present/future), asking: "what would happen if people did not recognize you? Would you know who you were yourself? If tomorrow they started to call her Vanessa or Janet or Elizabeth or Elizabeth, would she know how to be, how to feel, like Charlotte? Were you some particular person only because people recognized you as such?" These are questions that Charlotte struggles with, particularly when an unexpected turn of events strands her in 1918, and it begins to look like she might not get home to her own time. Just who is she, anyway? Charlotte? Clare? Or sometimes one or the other...?
Although somewhat different in feeling, than the earlier two Aviary Hall books, whose strange, eldritch enchantment I found utterly absorbing, this time-slip fantasy is just as appealing, in its own way - its fantasy believable, not because of magical atmosphere or extraordinary character, but because of its matter-of-fact juxtaposition with reality. I appreciated the depiction of WWI England, and the way - in stark contrast to some of the children's novels (and school stories!) of that actual time - it refused to romanticize or glorify that conflict. I was engaged by Charlotte's struggle to remain herself, something made more difficult by her uncertainty as to just who that self was. Finally, I was reminded of my all-time favorite time-slip novel, Philippa Pearce's classic Tom's Midnight Garden, and was happily surprised (and terribly moved) by the differences in ending, with Clare's death, so soon after switching places, for the final time, with Charlotte; and the lack of meeting with the now grown-up Emily, whose communication with Charlotte is conducted through letter. All in all, an outstanding children's novel, one I would recommend to all school story lovers, and fans of time-slip adventures. I can see why The New York Review Children's Collection recently chose it to be reprinted!
September 17, 2024
Yes, I picked this up because it inspired the Cure song.
Five stars because I would’ve loved it as a kid too.
Five stars because I would’ve loved it as a kid too.
July 21, 2019
A quiet time-travel book. Thirteen-year-old Charlotte goes to bed in the oldest bed in her new boarding school in 1958,
Not the same story, but I do love Eleanor Bron
and wakes up in the same bed in the school infirmary of 1918 with everyone calling her "Clare."
Farmer handles the history and the time-shift beautifully, and Charlotte is a thoughtful, likable heroine who's given a lot to ponder here. Because Farmer wrote the novel when WWI was still part of living memory, she comfortably includes a wealth of period detail, from séances to neglected "oriental" gardens to spillikens. As several other reviewers have said already, ten-year-old me would have loved it.
Not as dramatic or sentimental as A Little Princess, which the author clearly admired. But Charlotte's not that kind of girl, anyway.
Not the same story, but I do love Eleanor Bron
and wakes up in the same bed in the school infirmary of 1918 with everyone calling her "Clare."
Farmer handles the history and the time-shift beautifully, and Charlotte is a thoughtful, likable heroine who's given a lot to ponder here. Because Farmer wrote the novel when WWI was still part of living memory, she comfortably includes a wealth of period detail, from séances to neglected "oriental" gardens to spillikens. As several other reviewers have said already, ten-year-old me would have loved it.
Not as dramatic or sentimental as A Little Princess, which the author clearly admired. But Charlotte's not that kind of girl, anyway.
June 27, 2018
I enjoyed every single page. A story which plays the time-slip genre with great maturity. A story of a young girl finding her identity by losing it. The relationship between Charlotte and Emily was so intense. I'm really moved by the sense of change and loss.
October 15, 2009
Time travel and boarding school - how can you beat it?
My friend Ellen tells me that the Cure has a song called Charlotte Sometimes based on this book. How very odd!
My friend Ellen tells me that the Cure has a song called Charlotte Sometimes based on this book. How very odd!
August 30, 2017
I came to this book somewhat late, having learnt of it only through my adoration of The Cure (Robert Smith took inspiration from the book for three of his songs - 'Charlotte Sometimes', 'Splintered in her Head' and 'The Empty World'). I now share at least one thing with Robert Smith (in addition to my teen penchant for eyeliner); we have both been haunted by this book for years.
Two young girls make an improbable connection across time and space without ever actually meeting; this was hard-hitting stuff for a children's book. Ostensibly a time-travel/adventure story ('with quite large writing', as one of my friends joked when he saw me reading it), Charlotte Sometimes is really about so much more - war, alienation, identity... what makes you you.
Told with the simplicity yet piercing perception that only a child's perspective can bring, this is incredibly poignant and much more complex than it might at first seem.
I've selected this as one of 10 books that have influenced my life in some way. Please check out my blog, Inky Squiggles, to see the others!
Two young girls make an improbable connection across time and space without ever actually meeting; this was hard-hitting stuff for a children's book. Ostensibly a time-travel/adventure story ('with quite large writing', as one of my friends joked when he saw me reading it), Charlotte Sometimes is really about so much more - war, alienation, identity... what makes you you.
Told with the simplicity yet piercing perception that only a child's perspective can bring, this is incredibly poignant and much more complex than it might at first seem.
I've selected this as one of 10 books that have influenced my life in some way. Please check out my blog, Inky Squiggles, to see the others!
April 1, 2021
As many other reviewers have mentioned, I'd have never heard of this book if it were not for The Cure's beautiful song of the same name.
I kinda wish I'd just enjoyed the music and not sought out its inspiration.
The book is not completely bad or without merit. In fact, the premise is one of the most creative that I have seen in children's supernatural-themed books. The writing is quite good as well, and is surprisingly readable for an older book (not all classic books are easy for today's kids to read).
It starts off with Charlotte arriving at a new boarding school. It's World War II and she's been relocated for safety. There isn't much with her getting settled aside from some first day jitters. She wakes up the next morning only to discover (spoilers follow!!)...
That she has traveled back in time over 30 years and taken the place of another girl, Claire. It's something to do with the bed. She and Claire alternate places each night via the magic bed and while they never can meet, they communicate through an old journal. There are some cute minor sequences in which they get confused about homework assignments and a rather sad scene in which Charlotte forgets to tell Claire that she's accepted a lonely classmate's invitation to become best friends (awww! remember those days?).
However, that's not the bulk of it. It is more about Charlotte's relationship with Emily, Claire's little sister. Emily ruined the book for me. She's a nasty little shit. I kept hoping an air raid would take her out. She's that rotten, destructive type of child so common in older literature that we're all supposed to think is funny and adorable, like Eloise who lives in the fancy schmancy hotel and deliberately damages property.
Charlotte is astonishingly bland and doesn't seem too bothered about being dumped back in time. A pluckier, or at least less doofus, heroine would look for a class yearbook (yes, they had them in World War I) or some admission letters or hit up a library to find out about Claire...nope.
About a third of the way through the book, she and Claire wind up stuck in the wrong times when Charlotte and Emily are sent to live with an elderly couple and their spinster daughter. Charlotte can't sleep in the bed, so the girls are stuck. I was horrified at whatever was happening to Claire, who'd have no idea.
Emily continues to be a shit, mocking the couple who are grieving for their son, a casualty of World War I. Their daughter is very kind to the girls and takes them under her wing, but Emily continues to misbehave. The cruelty of her behavior and Charlotte's meh attitude were a major turnoff. Neither girl seems to have much sympathy for the grieving family, which is odd because in both time settings, their classmates are losing their fathers to the world wars.
Eventually, they get the time thing straightened out. Claire dies a few days later in her own time. WTF? What an awful ending. We never find out what happened to Bunty, Susannah, poor Miss Agnes (did Emily ever bother visiting her, or did she just keep the nice toys she gave her?), or anyone else we might have cared about. But Emily, that little turd, grew up to be a bigger turd and have 4 children and live happily ever after.
Charlotte Sometimes is a good story, but most times just sucks. (I did like the monkey puzzle tree. Whenever I get my dream house, I'm going to plant one and climb it with my niece.)
I kinda wish I'd just enjoyed the music and not sought out its inspiration.
The book is not completely bad or without merit. In fact, the premise is one of the most creative that I have seen in children's supernatural-themed books. The writing is quite good as well, and is surprisingly readable for an older book (not all classic books are easy for today's kids to read).
It starts off with Charlotte arriving at a new boarding school. It's World War II and she's been relocated for safety. There isn't much with her getting settled aside from some first day jitters. She wakes up the next morning only to discover (spoilers follow!!)...
That she has traveled back in time over 30 years and taken the place of another girl, Claire. It's something to do with the bed. She and Claire alternate places each night via the magic bed and while they never can meet, they communicate through an old journal. There are some cute minor sequences in which they get confused about homework assignments and a rather sad scene in which Charlotte forgets to tell Claire that she's accepted a lonely classmate's invitation to become best friends (awww! remember those days?).
However, that's not the bulk of it. It is more about Charlotte's relationship with Emily, Claire's little sister. Emily ruined the book for me. She's a nasty little shit. I kept hoping an air raid would take her out. She's that rotten, destructive type of child so common in older literature that we're all supposed to think is funny and adorable, like Eloise who lives in the fancy schmancy hotel and deliberately damages property.
Charlotte is astonishingly bland and doesn't seem too bothered about being dumped back in time. A pluckier, or at least less doofus, heroine would look for a class yearbook (yes, they had them in World War I) or some admission letters or hit up a library to find out about Claire...nope.
About a third of the way through the book, she and Claire wind up stuck in the wrong times when Charlotte and Emily are sent to live with an elderly couple and their spinster daughter. Charlotte can't sleep in the bed, so the girls are stuck. I was horrified at whatever was happening to Claire, who'd have no idea.
Emily continues to be a shit, mocking the couple who are grieving for their son, a casualty of World War I. Their daughter is very kind to the girls and takes them under her wing, but Emily continues to misbehave. The cruelty of her behavior and Charlotte's meh attitude were a major turnoff. Neither girl seems to have much sympathy for the grieving family, which is odd because in both time settings, their classmates are losing their fathers to the world wars.
Eventually, they get the time thing straightened out. Claire dies a few days later in her own time. WTF? What an awful ending. We never find out what happened to Bunty, Susannah, poor Miss Agnes (did Emily ever bother visiting her, or did she just keep the nice toys she gave her?), or anyone else we might have cared about. But Emily, that little turd, grew up to be a bigger turd and have 4 children and live happily ever after.
Charlotte Sometimes is a good story, but most times just sucks. (I did like the monkey puzzle tree. Whenever I get my dream house, I'm going to plant one and climb it with my niece.)
August 17, 2018
Charlotte has just started at boarding school. She goes to bed and wakes up and sees a different girl in the bed next to her. She realises she has travelled back 40 years and is in the place of Clare who has swapped places and travelled into Charlotte’s time. The story is told through Charlotte’s perspective as she lives Clare’s life in the First World War with Clare’s younger sister Emily. The two girls manage together in moving to lodgings, coping with the swap of Charlotte and Clare and working together to figure out how to get Clare back to her time and Charlotte back to hers.
The character of wilful Emily contrasts Charlotte, however it has been interesting to see how the characters have influenced each other and gaining a deeper understanding of Emily who comes across as tough and laughs things off, and takes the swap of her sister with Charlotte quite well throughout the story. The final chapters reveal the feelings Emily had for Charlotte through the letter and gifts she sends as an adult to Charlotte to remind her of their time together when Charlotte was Clare. The only aspect of the book that I disliked was discovering that Clare died 4 days after her return, which I found to be quite upsetting and wished that Farmer had explored Emily and Clare reuniting after the final swap.
This book has so many possibilities for use in the classroom. I would use this book with year 5/6 as I think it is a story that adds challenge as well as being manageable to read and understand. The rich language and style of writing would enhance children’s writing and extend their vocabularies. It is so well written, characters and settings have been described by Farmer in such a way that paints a picture in the readers mind with the rich language. The reader is really able to empathise with the characters and understand the struggle Charlotte has in keeping up with the time travel and living two lives at the start of the story as well as finding ways to reunite Emily with her sister and send Charlotte back to her time. I think it would be good to explore with children the perspective of Clare in the story as this was not explored by the author. Children could also be taught about letter writing using the examples in the text as well as creating an alternative ending. I think this story also has many opportunities for drama strategies to support writing as well as links to other subjects such as humanities.
Overall I really enjoyed reading this book I thought it had a fantastic plot that was very well written and I hope to recommend it to others and use it within my classroom one day.
The character of wilful Emily contrasts Charlotte, however it has been interesting to see how the characters have influenced each other and gaining a deeper understanding of Emily who comes across as tough and laughs things off, and takes the swap of her sister with Charlotte quite well throughout the story. The final chapters reveal the feelings Emily had for Charlotte through the letter and gifts she sends as an adult to Charlotte to remind her of their time together when Charlotte was Clare. The only aspect of the book that I disliked was discovering that Clare died 4 days after her return, which I found to be quite upsetting and wished that Farmer had explored Emily and Clare reuniting after the final swap.
This book has so many possibilities for use in the classroom. I would use this book with year 5/6 as I think it is a story that adds challenge as well as being manageable to read and understand. The rich language and style of writing would enhance children’s writing and extend their vocabularies. It is so well written, characters and settings have been described by Farmer in such a way that paints a picture in the readers mind with the rich language. The reader is really able to empathise with the characters and understand the struggle Charlotte has in keeping up with the time travel and living two lives at the start of the story as well as finding ways to reunite Emily with her sister and send Charlotte back to her time. I think it would be good to explore with children the perspective of Clare in the story as this was not explored by the author. Children could also be taught about letter writing using the examples in the text as well as creating an alternative ending. I think this story also has many opportunities for drama strategies to support writing as well as links to other subjects such as humanities.
Overall I really enjoyed reading this book I thought it had a fantastic plot that was very well written and I hope to recommend it to others and use it within my classroom one day.
August 28, 2016
I've been itching to read this book for ages. I'm so glad I finally got to it, because it was quite good!
The time-travel theme has been done many times, of course, but I quite liked how it was done here. As far as I can tell, Charlotte and Clare physically travelled through time (as opposed to just their consciousnesses travelling); they must have looked very much alike for so few people to have noticed the difference. But the story is not so much about the time travel itself as it is about identity. It's also an English boarding school story, which is bound to introduce a number of interesting characters and scenarios. There were a few things that I thought might be relevant that were never addressed again (what was the deal with Elsie, for example?), but on the whole it was a pretty cohesive story.
I did like most of the characters, but I especially liked Clare's younger sister, Emily. She had such a big personality for a little girl; she was only ten, but in some ways she came across as more of an adventurous, rebellious teenager. The stuffy Chisel Browns were also pretty entertaining.
The narrative is quite lovely -- even poetic -- in places, and I enjoyed reading every word. However, the EPUB edition that I had (supposedly based on the 40th anniversary edition of the novel) was abysmal. There were numerous typos and odd, random punctuation (like errant periods or one half of a set of quotation marks just dangling in the middle of nowhere) and I find it difficult to believe that such mistakes were actually included in the original... and then continually overlooked for the next 40 years! (The good thing about this edition, though, was that it included the original ending. Apparently, someone in the 1980s decided that the last bit shouldn't be included.)
All in all, I really enjoyed this one and I can see why it's considered a classic. Funnily enough, it's the third book about the Makepeace sisters. However, you do not need to have read the first two books to enjoy the third (and it's a good thing, too, since the others appear to be out of print).
http://theladybugreads.blogspot.ca/20...
The time-travel theme has been done many times, of course, but I quite liked how it was done here. As far as I can tell, Charlotte and Clare physically travelled through time (as opposed to just their consciousnesses travelling); they must have looked very much alike for so few people to have noticed the difference. But the story is not so much about the time travel itself as it is about identity. It's also an English boarding school story, which is bound to introduce a number of interesting characters and scenarios. There were a few things that I thought might be relevant that were never addressed again (what was the deal with Elsie, for example?), but on the whole it was a pretty cohesive story.
I did like most of the characters, but I especially liked Clare's younger sister, Emily. She had such a big personality for a little girl; she was only ten, but in some ways she came across as more of an adventurous, rebellious teenager. The stuffy Chisel Browns were also pretty entertaining.
The narrative is quite lovely -- even poetic -- in places, and I enjoyed reading every word. However, the EPUB edition that I had (supposedly based on the 40th anniversary edition of the novel) was abysmal. There were numerous typos and odd, random punctuation (like errant periods or one half of a set of quotation marks just dangling in the middle of nowhere) and I find it difficult to believe that such mistakes were actually included in the original... and then continually overlooked for the next 40 years! (The good thing about this edition, though, was that it included the original ending. Apparently, someone in the 1980s decided that the last bit shouldn't be included.)
All in all, I really enjoyed this one and I can see why it's considered a classic. Funnily enough, it's the third book about the Makepeace sisters. However, you do not need to have read the first two books to enjoy the third (and it's a good thing, too, since the others appear to be out of print).
http://theladybugreads.blogspot.ca/20...
March 18, 2012
Charlotte Sometimes is a wistful, fascinating blend of boarding school story and time travel fantasy. When Charlotte wakes up from her first night at boarding school, she finds that she has been magically transported back into the past, where everyone thinks she's a girl called Clare, attending the same school forty years earlier. When she wakes up the next morning, she's back in her own time, but she soon realizes that she slips back and forth every night, spending every other day as Clare.
Farmer does a masterful job rendering Charlotte's sense of displacement and confusion, which increase with every switch, until she begins to doubt her own identity. The historical details are nicely done too, as Charlotte sees the differences between her own time and the time during World War I to which she slips back. This is a beautifully atmospheric, character-rich book, which I would think would work well for older children and for adults as well - it certainly did for me.
Farmer does a masterful job rendering Charlotte's sense of displacement and confusion, which increase with every switch, until she begins to doubt her own identity. The historical details are nicely done too, as Charlotte sees the differences between her own time and the time during World War I to which she slips back. This is a beautifully atmospheric, character-rich book, which I would think would work well for older children and for adults as well - it certainly did for me.
August 27, 2011
When I first heard the song which shares the title of this book by the 80's pop band, The Cure, I was enthralled. Astonishment ensued when I found out that the band had written the song about a story.
I had to order the book as it is no longer in print and paid a pretty penny for something I figured would be nothing more than a keepsake for my love of The Cure. From the first page it became impossible to put the book down.
I read it three times since I bought it and every time I try to figure out why and what has caused this riff in time for Charlotte. READ IT!!! I can't wait to find out what people think.
I had to order the book as it is no longer in print and paid a pretty penny for something I figured would be nothing more than a keepsake for my love of The Cure. From the first page it became impossible to put the book down.
I read it three times since I bought it and every time I try to figure out why and what has caused this riff in time for Charlotte. READ IT!!! I can't wait to find out what people think.
November 7, 2011
Ostensibly a time-travel book, this little gem is actually more about figuring out who one really is. Lots of interesting historical detail thrown in besides. And it's got the perennial hook of boarding school to add to the allure. The characters rang true- especially the confusion and dismay and mustering of wits. Recommended.
I read this over the summer and somehow missed reviewing it. It was a perfect book to read by the pool.
I read this over the summer and somehow missed reviewing it. It was a perfect book to read by the pool.
January 29, 2025
Gripping and poignant story of two girls who keep switching places in time, told from the point of view of the modern (1960s) one, who has to navigate boarding school life in 1918, war time privation, strict and austere codes of behavior, and a fierce and confused little sister. Possibly the best time slip book ever, for either children or adults. Penelope Farmer reworked the ending more than once -- although the outcome is not substantively changed in any of them, there are at least three different versions. This particular edition (with the girl who looks like she should be named Kimberly looking in the mirror) was the one I first read, which is probably why I think it's the best. It's a little more stark in tone than the others, and the last page packs an emotional punch.
May 2, 2011
I read about Charlotte Sometimes on the Chicklit message boards, and it sounded interesting; and then finding out that Robert Smith had liked it enough to write a song about it cinched the deal and I ordered myself a copy. The book tells the story of Charlotte, a new girl at a boarding school, who wakes up one morning to find a huge tree outside her bedroom window where the day before there had been none. And more disconcertingly, the girl in the bed next to her is calling her "Clare." Charlotte eventually surmises that she has changed places with a girl who attended the boarding school forty years before her, and each night she and Clare switch places again, so that one day she is in her own time and the next day she is in wartorn 1918.
Charlotte and Clare actually change places bodily; they look enough alike that nobody notices, although everyone wonders why each girl forgets so many things and is one day good at piano lessons, one day good at math, but never consistent in any subject. One of the themes the book explores is the idea that we see what we expect to see: nobody realizes what's happened because nobody expects anything so outlandish as Charlotte not being Charlotte every other day. Nobody looks close enough to notice. Even Charlotte realizes that she's never really looked at her hands or face closely enough to be sure whether she's still physically Charlotte or whether she's inhabiting another body that's just similar to her own.
It's an interesting idea, and well carried out.
Notes on a June 2004 re-read: I read the 1987 edition of Charlotte Sometimes, but I'd heard beforehand that the later editions (such as mine) had a different ending from the original one. I borrowed a 1969 edition from the library and did some side-by-side comparisons.
There are a number of minor changes throughout the books: a different word here, a change in punctuation there. Two short chapters in the original printing (chapters 14 and 15) are combined to make a single chapter in the later edition (Part 2 chapter 7) - and, obviously, they changed the manner in which the sections were numbered.
The only major difference that I spotted was, indeed, the final chapter. In the 1987 edition, the three-page final chapter finds Charlotte reflecting on all that had happened to her, followed by a frenzy in which she opens the hollow bedpost to find the shared diary, hoping for one last secret message from Clare. There is no secret message, just Charlotte's own final notes, yellowed with age.
In the 1969 edition, the six-page final chapter has Charlotte receive a package from Clare's sister Emily, now a middle-aged woman whose daughter attends school with Charlotte. It ends with Charlotte feeling distracted and out-of-place, living in her own time but with a head full of memories of a different era.
It seems like the later edition wants to reinforce that Charlotte is really back in the present, with her adventures now just a strange memory. The earlier edition suggests that Charlotte will never quite be fully in the present because she has this head full of memories of other people and places and events. Both endings work; I don't think either would be a disappointment to the reader; but I think the earlier edition is more philosophically and psychologically interesting. I'd encourage those of you who read one edition and enjoyed it to look up the other and see whether you like it more or less for ending in a different way.
Charlotte and Clare actually change places bodily; they look enough alike that nobody notices, although everyone wonders why each girl forgets so many things and is one day good at piano lessons, one day good at math, but never consistent in any subject. One of the themes the book explores is the idea that we see what we expect to see: nobody realizes what's happened because nobody expects anything so outlandish as Charlotte not being Charlotte every other day. Nobody looks close enough to notice. Even Charlotte realizes that she's never really looked at her hands or face closely enough to be sure whether she's still physically Charlotte or whether she's inhabiting another body that's just similar to her own.
It's an interesting idea, and well carried out.
Notes on a June 2004 re-read: I read the 1987 edition of Charlotte Sometimes, but I'd heard beforehand that the later editions (such as mine) had a different ending from the original one. I borrowed a 1969 edition from the library and did some side-by-side comparisons.
There are a number of minor changes throughout the books: a different word here, a change in punctuation there. Two short chapters in the original printing (chapters 14 and 15) are combined to make a single chapter in the later edition (Part 2 chapter 7) - and, obviously, they changed the manner in which the sections were numbered.
The only major difference that I spotted was, indeed, the final chapter. In the 1987 edition, the three-page final chapter finds Charlotte reflecting on all that had happened to her, followed by a frenzy in which she opens the hollow bedpost to find the shared diary, hoping for one last secret message from Clare. There is no secret message, just Charlotte's own final notes, yellowed with age.
In the 1969 edition, the six-page final chapter has Charlotte receive a package from Clare's sister Emily, now a middle-aged woman whose daughter attends school with Charlotte. It ends with Charlotte feeling distracted and out-of-place, living in her own time but with a head full of memories of a different era.
It seems like the later edition wants to reinforce that Charlotte is really back in the present, with her adventures now just a strange memory. The earlier edition suggests that Charlotte will never quite be fully in the present because she has this head full of memories of other people and places and events. Both endings work; I don't think either would be a disappointment to the reader; but I think the earlier edition is more philosophically and psychologically interesting. I'd encourage those of you who read one edition and enjoyed it to look up the other and see whether you like it more or less for ending in a different way.
September 9, 2024
2024: Decided to visit this classic when I wasn't able to concentrate on new stuff. As always, it's fun to take nostalgic look at a book that you read a gazillion times as a kid. I don't know what it is about this book, but it holds a special place in my bookish heart. It's time travel, sure, but it's also a strangely contemplative look at wartime, friendship/sisterhood, coming of age....
2015 Reading Challenge: A book from my childhood!
This was probably my earliest experience with time travel books, and was later my go-to book when I needed a paperback to take somewhere. Finally dug this out of my parents' attic to add to my own library now. Definitely recommended.
2015 Reading Challenge: A book from my childhood!
This was probably my earliest experience with time travel books, and was later my go-to book when I needed a paperback to take somewhere. Finally dug this out of my parents' attic to add to my own library now. Definitely recommended.
May 6, 2021
Done with the second read now, and still not sure what to make of it. I do find interesting Charlotte's concerns about figuring out who she is when she's not in Clare's shoes, but mostly the fact that there weren't very many individual personalities and that there wasn't much fun keeps me from thinking that this would be widely enjoyed by children. Young me, even though she was quiet and introspective and well-read, wouldn't have much liked this either.
:shrug: different strokes....
See more comments in the Children's Books group, May 2021
Read on openlibrary.org.
:shrug: different strokes....
See more comments in the Children's Books group, May 2021
Read on openlibrary.org.
May 17, 2021
This is one of those special books that you read as a child and it stays with you into adulthood. It was just as mesmerising this time around.
May 8, 2019
4 stars.
This was a 3 star read for the most part but I liked how it all rapped up in the end. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those books that sticks with me and is remembered over the years and thought of.
This was a 3 star read for the most part but I liked how it all rapped up in the end. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those books that sticks with me and is remembered over the years and thought of.
May 1, 2020
Just as good as I remembered when I read it as a child.
September 24, 2014
I was so impressed by Penelope Farmer's 'Charlotte Sometimes'. It is a story of a girl growing older, of adjusting to life away from home for the first time, or a new life amongst unfamiliars.
What I appreciated most about the book were the implications it carried with it in regards to what it *is* to grow older. I think it's something of an impulse to think of childhood as something merely left behind—or that, we enter adulthood at the expense of a broad vivacity which gives our formative years their brilliant hue. Or that more pointedly, adulthood is entered in the same way we would cross into an unknown at the cost of the so-called simplicity of childhood. Though I am not well-versed in the juvenile level coming-of-age tale, I can at least cite Jerry Spinelli's 'Hokey-Pokey' of what I understand to be an example of the above, but I hope that I may do this without detracting from Hokey-Pokey, which I enjoyed when I read it about a year ago. There too, we have a tale rich in imagination. Still, I think, with aim to inform preference, I prefer Charlotte Sometimes.
Our Charlotte has gone off to boarding school, the year being 1969 (presumably, as this is when the book was released). By sleeping in a magical bed by the window or her dormitory, she is transported back to 1918, waking up as 'Clare'—a girl with a different sister, a different home life, a different identity. She is haunted by what is expected of Clare, of living up to Clare, while at the same time making room for 'Charlotte' in this strange world. Despite the differences the boarding school has undergone in 50 odd years, there is a familiarity which renders the school that much more erie. Throughout the book Charlotte/Clare not only gradually learns to enjoy herself in this new world, but begins build a relationship between past and present, between herself and the strange contexts to which she suddenly finds herself thrown into.
At risk of spoiling the book, I will leave the beautiful details of how Farmer accomplishes this to the reader—suffice to say that through this strange shade of time travel Charlotte learns that the gathering of one's identity is a negotiation between the self and its world. There cannot only be the 'one' or the simple 'will', as it exists , if alone, in a paradox. She comes out of this experience as one who has learned sympathy, responsibility, the importance of history and its creative power, as a girl I would like to consider to be a burgeoning adult.
Overall, I think the picture of adulthood that Farmer gives the reader is not one of loss. It shows the growth and the (albeit different) creative power and understanding of oneself that gives young adulthood its distinction from childhood. Charlotte learns who it is to be Charlotte not through 'asserting Charlotte', but through 'negotiating Charlotte' with the idea of Clare. Only then can she really appreciate and know what is 'is' to be Charlotte.
By the way, you might be wondering, "was the only reason you read this book because it served as the inspiration of The Cure's song 'Charlotte Sometimes' "? Totally! It just goes to show, sometimes it pays heartily to trust your whims.
-AF
What I appreciated most about the book were the implications it carried with it in regards to what it *is* to grow older. I think it's something of an impulse to think of childhood as something merely left behind—or that, we enter adulthood at the expense of a broad vivacity which gives our formative years their brilliant hue. Or that more pointedly, adulthood is entered in the same way we would cross into an unknown at the cost of the so-called simplicity of childhood. Though I am not well-versed in the juvenile level coming-of-age tale, I can at least cite Jerry Spinelli's 'Hokey-Pokey' of what I understand to be an example of the above, but I hope that I may do this without detracting from Hokey-Pokey, which I enjoyed when I read it about a year ago. There too, we have a tale rich in imagination. Still, I think, with aim to inform preference, I prefer Charlotte Sometimes.
Our Charlotte has gone off to boarding school, the year being 1969 (presumably, as this is when the book was released). By sleeping in a magical bed by the window or her dormitory, she is transported back to 1918, waking up as 'Clare'—a girl with a different sister, a different home life, a different identity. She is haunted by what is expected of Clare, of living up to Clare, while at the same time making room for 'Charlotte' in this strange world. Despite the differences the boarding school has undergone in 50 odd years, there is a familiarity which renders the school that much more erie. Throughout the book Charlotte/Clare not only gradually learns to enjoy herself in this new world, but begins build a relationship between past and present, between herself and the strange contexts to which she suddenly finds herself thrown into.
At risk of spoiling the book, I will leave the beautiful details of how Farmer accomplishes this to the reader—suffice to say that through this strange shade of time travel Charlotte learns that the gathering of one's identity is a negotiation between the self and its world. There cannot only be the 'one' or the simple 'will', as it exists , if alone, in a paradox. She comes out of this experience as one who has learned sympathy, responsibility, the importance of history and its creative power, as a girl I would like to consider to be a burgeoning adult.
Overall, I think the picture of adulthood that Farmer gives the reader is not one of loss. It shows the growth and the (albeit different) creative power and understanding of oneself that gives young adulthood its distinction from childhood. Charlotte learns who it is to be Charlotte not through 'asserting Charlotte', but through 'negotiating Charlotte' with the idea of Clare. Only then can she really appreciate and know what is 'is' to be Charlotte.
By the way, you might be wondering, "was the only reason you read this book because it served as the inspiration of The Cure's song 'Charlotte Sometimes' "? Totally! It just goes to show, sometimes it pays heartily to trust your whims.
-AF
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