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The Butterfly Club #1
The Ship of Doom
Greenwich, London, 15th February 1894.
Luna thinks that an evening at her aunt's butterfly club sounds deathly boring.
But it turns out that the meeting, held in the Butterfly Room at the Greenwich Observatory, is not at all as Luna expects. The Butterfly Club is a society with an unusual secret . . . they use time travel to plunder the future for wonders.
Together with her friends, Konstantin and Aidan, and a clockwork cuckoo, Luna boards the Time Train. The gang travel to 1912 and find themselves aboard a great ship travelling from Southampton to New York. They locate a man called Guglielmo Marconi and his new invention: the wireless radio. But as the ship heads into icy waters, they discover its name:
The RMS TITANIC
Can Luna and the boys save Marconi and his invention from the doomed ship?
Can they get the radio back home to the Butterfly Club?
And how will their actions change the rest of time?
Luna thinks that an evening at her aunt's butterfly club sounds deathly boring.
But it turns out that the meeting, held in the Butterfly Room at the Greenwich Observatory, is not at all as Luna expects. The Butterfly Club is a society with an unusual secret . . . they use time travel to plunder the future for wonders.
Together with her friends, Konstantin and Aidan, and a clockwork cuckoo, Luna boards the Time Train. The gang travel to 1912 and find themselves aboard a great ship travelling from Southampton to New York. They locate a man called Guglielmo Marconi and his new invention: the wireless radio. But as the ship heads into icy waters, they discover its name:
The RMS TITANIC
Can Luna and the boys save Marconi and his invention from the doomed ship?
Can they get the radio back home to the Butterfly Club?
And how will their actions change the rest of time?
304 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 2022
19 people are currently reading
361 people want to read
About the author
M.A. Bennett
17 books303 followersM. A. Bennett is half Venetian and was born in Manchester, England, and raised in the Yorkshire Dales. She is a history graduate of Oxford University and the University of Venice, where she specialized in the study of Shakespeare’s plays as a historical source. After university she studied art and has since worked as an illustrator, an actress, and a film reviewer. She also designed tour visuals for rock bands, including U2 and the Rolling Stones. She was married on the Grand Canal in Venice and lives in north London with her husband, son, and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
March 5, 2022
Watch out for the Watch.When Luna attends a meeting of her aunt’s Butterfly Club, she discovers the club’s true purpose: they’re time travellers who ‘borrow’ technology from the future to “bring progress forward.”
‘I must tell you that time travel is perfectly possible.’Before she’s even got her head around the fact that time travel exists, Luna learns that she’s about to see the future for herself. Luna and her two travelling companions, Konstantin, an avid reader with a clockwork heart, and Aidan, who has a “brain like a machine”, are about to board the Time Train for their very first mission.
‘But how?’
‘All in good time.’
The trio are tasked with retrieving a very important item from Southampton in 1912. It’s on board an unsinkable ship.
This is a story of friendship and adventure, one where ordinary people can be heroes. Being true to yourself is valued and integrity is modelled by a number of characters.
There are also some characters whose motives are more self serving and there’s a decidedly dastardly character, who I’m keen to get to know better as the series progresses. I love a good villain.
I enjoyed seeing all of the ways that humans and machinery interact in this book. Besides the boy with a clockwork heart, there’s also a man with a pocket watch eye and something intriguing about Luna’s aunt.
‘Tiny, tiny changes can have huge consequences.’Butterflies weave their way through the story, from the butterfly effect to butterfly kisses. There’s also a metaphor that helps explain something important about one of the characters. My personal favourite was the use of butterflies to describe colours, e.g., a “yellow gown the colour of an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly”.
While much of the story lined up with what I know of the Titanic’s voyage, there was one part of the story that didn’t match what I’d previously heard. When Luna sees the iceberg that sinks the Titanic, it is said to look as though it has been “lit from within” as a result of the moonlight. My understanding is that it was a moonless night when the Titanic sank.
As someone who has inhaled as many stories and movies about time travel as I can find, I questioned some of the ways time travel worked in this book.
Over the course of the book, Luna and her new friends travel to the same day on multiple occasions. Although they are in the same areas at the same time as they were previously and have conversations with the same people, their selves from the first time they lived that day are nowhere to be found. I kept thinking of Marty McFly watching the Delorean speeding through the
There is a discussion about not being able to take someone back to a time when they were younger because of the potential timey wimey consequences of having two of the same person in the same time. Knowing that the person they were talking about was soon going to stop breathing permanently, I wondered why they couldn’t take them to a day in the future shortly after the date of their untimely death.
David Dean’s illustrations are stunning. I absolutely adored the clockwork butterfly.
I’ll be boarding the Time Train when my new friends travel to their second mission. Next stop: the Valley of the Kings.
‘When are you?’Thank you so much to NetGalley and Welbeck Flame, an imprint of Welbeck Children’s Limited, for the opportunity to read this book.
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
August 17, 2023
The butterfly club time travel into the future to bring back to their time, which is late Victorian era. They go to 1912 on the Titanic and try to stop its tragic end. An interesting and mind boggling idea. Could it be possible to change a future event? I will look for others in this series.
September 29, 2022
I really enjoyed this historical time-travel adventure. Three intrepid children, Luna, Aidan and Konstantin are recruited by the Butterfly society to travel by time-train forward to 1912 to "steal" Marconi's wireless to bring back to their own time (to help with the advancement of science). Things get interesting when they land aboard the Titanic just prior to its sinking. Things become even more interesting when someone seems intent on thwarting the children's attempts at saving the Titanic from its doom. There is another really interesting thing (or two) but it's a spoiler so I'll leave it out.
It is an engaging adventure story with a mix of historical facts and mystery.
It is an engaging adventure story with a mix of historical facts and mystery.
September 18, 2022
2.5 star rounded up to 3.
The Ship of Doom is a time-travel adventure where 3 children find themselves on board the Titanic.
They have been sent there by their family to bring back an invention - the wireless radio.
It was an action-packed middle grade but for me there were a few plot holes, a bit fact heavy here and there fore a middle grade - although I appreciate this can be a fun learning / fiction cross over if youngsters are learning about the Titanic at school, etc.
I really liked the historical figures mentioned - I felt that was a good additional element.
The Ship of Doom is a time-travel adventure where 3 children find themselves on board the Titanic.
They have been sent there by their family to bring back an invention - the wireless radio.
It was an action-packed middle grade but for me there were a few plot holes, a bit fact heavy here and there fore a middle grade - although I appreciate this can be a fun learning / fiction cross over if youngsters are learning about the Titanic at school, etc.
I really liked the historical figures mentioned - I felt that was a good additional element.
April 21, 2022
I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this! I wasn’t expecting to love this as much as I did, but my gosh, what a story. This is full of time travel, intrigue, bad guys, good guys and a bunch of kids whose stories I want more of! Loved reading about the Titanic! The ending SHOOK me. I can not wait for the next one!
October 7, 2023
This book was on the shortlist for my school’s annual competition – The Bolton Children’s Fiction Award. As I love historical fiction and have read some other books on the Titanic, picking up this book was an easy choice for me.
This is the first in the four book ‘Butterfly Club’ historical time-travel series. It is a mystery story set in Greenwich, London in 1894 during the reign of Queen Victoria. The Victorian Era is known as a great time in British history when the country had great power and wealth and there were many advances in technology. This creates a good background for this story.
All the books in the series are cleverly involve the butterfly effect. This a theory that any small change can make much bigger changes happen. This means that something small that occurs in one time can have a big impact on the future.
The main characters are three children: Luna, Konstantin, and Aiden. Luna is a sensible and clever girl. She loves to wear bright, pretty dresses but has been taught sciences unlike many other girls of that time. Konstantin was very ill for most of his childhood but despite this he is a happy boy. His brothers are all in the military and he does his best to act brave. The other boy, Aiden, had a tough childhood. Since the age of ten, he had been working as a labourer helping to build railways.
Luna’s aunt is a member of ‘the butterfly club’ which has its meetings at the Greenwich Observatory. Luna thinks that it must be very boring until she discovers the club is actually a secret society who are able to time travel into the future to steal important inventions that they bring back to 1894. They then use them to advance the technology available in their own time. This could explain why there was so much development in Britain during the late Victorian Era.
In the story, the children’s challenge is to travel into the future to the year 1912 to find a man named Guglielmo Marconi (the real-life Italian engineer and inventor of the wireless radio). Luna and her friends find themselves on a huge ship which is travelling from Southampton to New York. Unfortunately for them, it turns out that the ship they are onboard is actually the RMS Titanic – the famous White Star Line passenger liner which sank after hitting an iceberg during its first voyage!
I read an interesting interview with the author of the book where she talks about Guglielmo Marconi. He was supposed to travel on the Titanic with his family but luckily for him, he ended up travelling on another ship, the Lusitania, instead. Marconi also has another link to this tragic story – one of his wireless radios was onboard the Titanic in the communication’s room. His invention was used to call the rescue ships which saved over 700 survivors.
I like the way that the author has woven her own story in with facts and actual historical figures which helps make it more believable and has you asking all kinds of questions. I will leave you to read the book so you can discover whether Luna, Konstantin and Aiden are able to achieve their task of finding Marconi and his invention and bringing it back to the Butterfly Club. I am also sure you will enjoy finding out whether the children’s actions during their visit to the future have an impact on the events of 1912.
This is the first in the four book ‘Butterfly Club’ historical time-travel series. It is a mystery story set in Greenwich, London in 1894 during the reign of Queen Victoria. The Victorian Era is known as a great time in British history when the country had great power and wealth and there were many advances in technology. This creates a good background for this story.
All the books in the series are cleverly involve the butterfly effect. This a theory that any small change can make much bigger changes happen. This means that something small that occurs in one time can have a big impact on the future.
The main characters are three children: Luna, Konstantin, and Aiden. Luna is a sensible and clever girl. She loves to wear bright, pretty dresses but has been taught sciences unlike many other girls of that time. Konstantin was very ill for most of his childhood but despite this he is a happy boy. His brothers are all in the military and he does his best to act brave. The other boy, Aiden, had a tough childhood. Since the age of ten, he had been working as a labourer helping to build railways.
Luna’s aunt is a member of ‘the butterfly club’ which has its meetings at the Greenwich Observatory. Luna thinks that it must be very boring until she discovers the club is actually a secret society who are able to time travel into the future to steal important inventions that they bring back to 1894. They then use them to advance the technology available in their own time. This could explain why there was so much development in Britain during the late Victorian Era.
In the story, the children’s challenge is to travel into the future to the year 1912 to find a man named Guglielmo Marconi (the real-life Italian engineer and inventor of the wireless radio). Luna and her friends find themselves on a huge ship which is travelling from Southampton to New York. Unfortunately for them, it turns out that the ship they are onboard is actually the RMS Titanic – the famous White Star Line passenger liner which sank after hitting an iceberg during its first voyage!
I read an interesting interview with the author of the book where she talks about Guglielmo Marconi. He was supposed to travel on the Titanic with his family but luckily for him, he ended up travelling on another ship, the Lusitania, instead. Marconi also has another link to this tragic story – one of his wireless radios was onboard the Titanic in the communication’s room. His invention was used to call the rescue ships which saved over 700 survivors.
I like the way that the author has woven her own story in with facts and actual historical figures which helps make it more believable and has you asking all kinds of questions. I will leave you to read the book so you can discover whether Luna, Konstantin and Aiden are able to achieve their task of finding Marconi and his invention and bringing it back to the Butterfly Club. I am also sure you will enjoy finding out whether the children’s actions during their visit to the future have an impact on the events of 1912.
March 1, 2022
This is a great series starter about time travel and its possible consequences. It's a fast paced adventure that absolutely did not go where I was expecting (that midpoint? I was expecting those events to come at the end of the book, for example.)
I've called it historical fantasy because of the time travel aspect, which is the only magical part of the whole book. Otherwise, the kids are on their own with their skills, wits, and a device that gives them advice from their friends at home.
I loved how so many historical details and oddities were taken from the Titanic's journey and woven into the story as the working of time travel agents. It's so cleverly done and makes it feel believable within the world itself. Without them, it probably wouldn't have worked half so well, because there are all these little signposts to things that are sort of vaguely know and gives it a cohesive feel.
I really liked seeing the ripple effects of the children's actions, and also their response to it. It gives time travel real consequences, and also imposes limits on them to where they can and can't go (so there's no big cop out of "why didn't they/their society just go back much earlier to fix x y and z?")
There's also an opponent in the time-travel world that they're up against, with hints that they are part of an organisation/plan that will eventually come up against the Butterfly Club. It's done in such a way that it doesn't undermine the tension of this book by focusing on setting up later ones. Instead, the opposing agent is a real obstacle to them, forcing them to think differently, and then promises continuity into the coming books.
I am looking forward to the next instalment in this series, which takes the children to the 1922 excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb.
I've called it historical fantasy because of the time travel aspect, which is the only magical part of the whole book. Otherwise, the kids are on their own with their skills, wits, and a device that gives them advice from their friends at home.
I loved how so many historical details and oddities were taken from the Titanic's journey and woven into the story as the working of time travel agents. It's so cleverly done and makes it feel believable within the world itself. Without them, it probably wouldn't have worked half so well, because there are all these little signposts to things that are sort of vaguely know and gives it a cohesive feel.
I really liked seeing the ripple effects of the children's actions, and also their response to it. It gives time travel real consequences, and also imposes limits on them to where they can and can't go (so there's no big cop out of "why didn't they/their society just go back much earlier to fix x y and z?")
There's also an opponent in the time-travel world that they're up against, with hints that they are part of an organisation/plan that will eventually come up against the Butterfly Club. It's done in such a way that it doesn't undermine the tension of this book by focusing on setting up later ones. Instead, the opposing agent is a real obstacle to them, forcing them to think differently, and then promises continuity into the coming books.
I am looking forward to the next instalment in this series, which takes the children to the 1922 excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb.
March 6, 2022
I’m giving myself a massive pat on the back for having curated this title from @definitelybookskids because it’s SO GOOD! 😂🤫📚
This is an intricately-laid-out time traveling middle grade tale about wireless inventor, Guglielmo Marconi. If not for him, the Titanic would not have been able to send out its distress signals to nearby ships and save hundreds of lives.
Talking about the “Marconi room” running his wireless transmitter on the ship, Marconi said,
“It has no need to be bigger,
Eventually such technology will fit in the palm of man’s hand.”
Prophetic words indeed.
Without offering too many spoilers, this book imagines a British society of luminaries (Wells, Conan Doyle) called the Butterfly Club - after Edward Norton Lorenzo who in 1969 coined “the butterfly effect”.
Except this club exists in 1894, and time travels forward to gain new tech ahead of its time.
The action starts right away as Luna, Konstantin and Aidan are sent ahead to 1912, to acquire Marconi’s invention. Except when they arrive, they’re on… the RMS Titanic.
Luna makes a friend out of Marconi, while Konstantin gets to know the ships’ officers - including the deluded captain — around the time the iceberg hits. Aidan meets a mysterious one-eyed man who seems to know more about him and when he might be from.
Author M.A. Bennett manages to slip in the distinct class and gender differences of that time quite seamlessly, while weaving a tale that all ties up at the end.
I really enjoyed this and I’m definitely on for the next book 😮🤞🏻 For fans of time travel, the Titanic, and historical fiction about famous scientists, and anybody who’d enjoy a fine middle grade adventure!
This is an intricately-laid-out time traveling middle grade tale about wireless inventor, Guglielmo Marconi. If not for him, the Titanic would not have been able to send out its distress signals to nearby ships and save hundreds of lives.
Talking about the “Marconi room” running his wireless transmitter on the ship, Marconi said,
“It has no need to be bigger,
Eventually such technology will fit in the palm of man’s hand.”
Prophetic words indeed.
Without offering too many spoilers, this book imagines a British society of luminaries (Wells, Conan Doyle) called the Butterfly Club - after Edward Norton Lorenzo who in 1969 coined “the butterfly effect”.
Except this club exists in 1894, and time travels forward to gain new tech ahead of its time.
The action starts right away as Luna, Konstantin and Aidan are sent ahead to 1912, to acquire Marconi’s invention. Except when they arrive, they’re on… the RMS Titanic.
Luna makes a friend out of Marconi, while Konstantin gets to know the ships’ officers - including the deluded captain — around the time the iceberg hits. Aidan meets a mysterious one-eyed man who seems to know more about him and when he might be from.
Author M.A. Bennett manages to slip in the distinct class and gender differences of that time quite seamlessly, while weaving a tale that all ties up at the end.
I really enjoyed this and I’m definitely on for the next book 😮🤞🏻 For fans of time travel, the Titanic, and historical fiction about famous scientists, and anybody who’d enjoy a fine middle grade adventure!
January 21, 2022
I raced through this book and absolutely loved the suspenseful twists that the characters (Luna, Konstantin and Aidan) meet whilst on their 'time-travel' mission.
Most of the action is set on board the doomed ship, Titanic so, as a modern reader, you are aware of what is to come in the first instance, ahead of the characters. The idea of time travel is an interesting one, as is the 'Butterfly Effect' which is also explored within the novel. Some of the little changes they make whilst trying to follow their time-thief' mission have huge consequences for the lives on the Titanic, and I liked how the characters demonstrated good morals in their approach to this. I particularly loved the consequences of the third trip back in time!
As a first book in a series, the story feels complete yet there are still plenty of 'what will happen next?' questions to answer to ensure readers will want to read the next book! I will certainly be one of them!
As the theme is the titanic, I see this book being an excellent class read for KS2 pupils.
There was also an interesting theme of 'living being true to yourself' and of a girl living as a boy. This theme was sensitively covered and would be a reassuring read for any reader experiencing similar feelings.
**Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read an advanced e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own **
Most of the action is set on board the doomed ship, Titanic so, as a modern reader, you are aware of what is to come in the first instance, ahead of the characters. The idea of time travel is an interesting one, as is the 'Butterfly Effect' which is also explored within the novel. Some of the little changes they make whilst trying to follow their time-thief' mission have huge consequences for the lives on the Titanic, and I liked how the characters demonstrated good morals in their approach to this. I particularly loved the consequences of the third trip back in time!
As a first book in a series, the story feels complete yet there are still plenty of 'what will happen next?' questions to answer to ensure readers will want to read the next book! I will certainly be one of them!
As the theme is the titanic, I see this book being an excellent class read for KS2 pupils.
There was also an interesting theme of 'living being true to yourself' and of a girl living as a boy. This theme was sensitively covered and would be a reassuring read for any reader experiencing similar feelings.
**Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read an advanced e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own **
February 8, 2022
“Everything I’ve ever invented has gone wrong. That’s how you get things right. Mistakes are much more valuable than successes.”
The Butterfly Club #1: The Ship of Doom - MA Bennett.
The premise of this book was interesting from the get go. Luna was introduced to The Butterfly Club, whose members were time-traveling thieves, stealing artifacts from the future. She was sent on a mission, alongside Konstantin and Aidan to travel to 1912, and steal Guglielmo Marconi’s invention: the wireless radio. Now what they did not know that the ship that they were on was the infamous RMS Titanic.
This book has got me gripped from the first few chapters. Luna’s aunt has a mechanical arm, Konstatin has a mechanical heart, and Aidan can drive a Time Train. Giving me very much steampunk, dark academia vibes from the setting itself, I indulged myself further as they went around the ship trying to find Marconi’s invention. I couldn’t stop reading this book because there was just no end to their adventures albeit being 350 pages!
There are a lot of themes that were discussed here, of which I think most children could relate to. One of it was being Aiden’s true identity which was simply discussed between the trio but I hope it will bring an impact to those who reads this.
Thank you so much @definitelybookskids for this review copy! I can’t wait to hear from the trio in their next adventure (I hear they’ll meeting real life mummies this time!)
The Butterfly Club #1: The Ship of Doom - MA Bennett.
The premise of this book was interesting from the get go. Luna was introduced to The Butterfly Club, whose members were time-traveling thieves, stealing artifacts from the future. She was sent on a mission, alongside Konstantin and Aidan to travel to 1912, and steal Guglielmo Marconi’s invention: the wireless radio. Now what they did not know that the ship that they were on was the infamous RMS Titanic.
This book has got me gripped from the first few chapters. Luna’s aunt has a mechanical arm, Konstatin has a mechanical heart, and Aidan can drive a Time Train. Giving me very much steampunk, dark academia vibes from the setting itself, I indulged myself further as they went around the ship trying to find Marconi’s invention. I couldn’t stop reading this book because there was just no end to their adventures albeit being 350 pages!
There are a lot of themes that were discussed here, of which I think most children could relate to. One of it was being Aiden’s true identity which was simply discussed between the trio but I hope it will bring an impact to those who reads this.
Thank you so much @definitelybookskids for this review copy! I can’t wait to hear from the trio in their next adventure (I hear they’ll meeting real life mummies this time!)
August 25, 2022
“Watch out for the watch”
The ship of doom review: LISTEN, I WAS AMAZED BY THIS BOOK. ITS SO FUCKING GOOD, AND ITS NOT EVEN A ROMANCE?? The writing was great! It has short chapters so it’s easy to get through! I never got bored! It kept me interested the whole way through I couldn’t put it down!! AND NOW HEAR ME OUT, THERES A SECOND BOOK ABOUT TUTANKHAMUNS TOMB, WHICH IS EXACTLY MY INTEREST WITH EGYPTOLOGY!! Okay okay, I’m going to stop fangirling and explain the book a little, there’s basically three teenagers, they find out their family is involved in a club named the butterfly club. Turns out they have a time machine which they use to steal inventions and ideas. In this book they send the three teenagers on their first ‘mission’ if you want to call it that, to steal the first wireless radio which is on a ship in 1912. What they don’t know is that they’ve just transported on the titanic...which you know what happens on that. OH WAIT, DID I MENTION THAT AT THE ENDING I FOUND OUT THESE PEOPLE THAT THE AUTHOR WROTE ABOUT WERE REAL?? I LOVEDDD AND AM SHOOK. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK SO BAD TO ALL OF YOU!!! Please ignore the fact it comes under children’s books because I didn’t even realise until I just looked it up!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
The ship of doom review: LISTEN, I WAS AMAZED BY THIS BOOK. ITS SO FUCKING GOOD, AND ITS NOT EVEN A ROMANCE?? The writing was great! It has short chapters so it’s easy to get through! I never got bored! It kept me interested the whole way through I couldn’t put it down!! AND NOW HEAR ME OUT, THERES A SECOND BOOK ABOUT TUTANKHAMUNS TOMB, WHICH IS EXACTLY MY INTEREST WITH EGYPTOLOGY!! Okay okay, I’m going to stop fangirling and explain the book a little, there’s basically three teenagers, they find out their family is involved in a club named the butterfly club. Turns out they have a time machine which they use to steal inventions and ideas. In this book they send the three teenagers on their first ‘mission’ if you want to call it that, to steal the first wireless radio which is on a ship in 1912. What they don’t know is that they’ve just transported on the titanic...which you know what happens on that. OH WAIT, DID I MENTION THAT AT THE ENDING I FOUND OUT THESE PEOPLE THAT THE AUTHOR WROTE ABOUT WERE REAL?? I LOVEDDD AND AM SHOOK. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK SO BAD TO ALL OF YOU!!! Please ignore the fact it comes under children’s books because I didn’t even realise until I just looked it up!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
October 7, 2023
How I love a GOOD time-travel adventure, and I’m happy to report back that this is one of the greats. The Butterfly Club is a society with an unusual secret . . . they use time travel to plunder the future for wonders to enhance the advancement of science in their own time. Luna’s aunt is a member and Luna soon boards the time train, sent on a mission to steal Marconi’s new invention, the wireless radio. Together with her friends, Konstantin and Aidan, and a clockwork cuckoo, she travels forward to 1912, where they find themselves, and Marconi, aboard a great ship travelling from Southampton to New York. The ship is the Titanic. This sets up an interesting dynamic where the reader is aware of what is to come, before the characters experience it themselves. As if the impending doom of the sinking is not enough, there is also an opponent who seems to know too much and is determined to stop them.
A time travel novel sinks or swims by its handling of characters travelling through time and the possible consequences of their actions. No spoilers here, so I’ll just say the resolution was clever and satisfying. There was also a sensitively covered sub-story of a girl who always felt she should have been born a boy.
A time travel novel sinks or swims by its handling of characters travelling through time and the possible consequences of their actions. No spoilers here, so I’ll just say the resolution was clever and satisfying. There was also a sensitively covered sub-story of a girl who always felt she should have been born a boy.
August 10, 2022
Straight off the bat I need to say this book is simply amazing.
When 3 children are sent to locate and bring the Marconi radio to their time in history, little could they imagine the adventure and peril this will place them in but as they find themselves onboard one of the most well known ocean liners in history they will discover just why the Titanic is so well known in the future. Can they survive against all the odds and fulfil their goal or will travelling to the future and needing to try to blend in be too much of a challenge in and of itself?
This maybe a book aimed at children but is one that can't be recommended highly enough. The writing is brilliant and the author doesn't attempt to dumb down what happened on the Titanic during the fateful journey. The story itself works well and doesn't feel like it has been added to something historical for the sake of it and for me this is where it truly does stand out from the crowd as it weaves the true and fictional aspects together to form a cohesive and brilliant book.
When 3 children are sent to locate and bring the Marconi radio to their time in history, little could they imagine the adventure and peril this will place them in but as they find themselves onboard one of the most well known ocean liners in history they will discover just why the Titanic is so well known in the future. Can they survive against all the odds and fulfil their goal or will travelling to the future and needing to try to blend in be too much of a challenge in and of itself?
This maybe a book aimed at children but is one that can't be recommended highly enough. The writing is brilliant and the author doesn't attempt to dumb down what happened on the Titanic during the fateful journey. The story itself works well and doesn't feel like it has been added to something historical for the sake of it and for me this is where it truly does stand out from the crowd as it weaves the true and fictional aspects together to form a cohesive and brilliant book.
July 8, 2023
3.75 stars. It was a fun adventure, well written and smooth read, I love a good time travel story. What bothered me was the strange anti-british sentiment that felt like it was written by a 10y old child. "Britannia" shold not "rule" the seas, because Titanic was a disaster? Give me a break. Of course every nation is flawed because we are all human, but there were also good things that people seem to forget. Britain was first to abolish slavery, even before US, and spent 175 years fighting it on high seas. So I say heck yeah, Rule Britannia, and hail to all brave british men. Also the times were hard everywhere, and people from all over the world travelled to US to get a shot at better life and free land of their own (US had a massive amout of free land at that time - unlike Britain - & was giving it away). Not because UK was specifically evil. I'm afraid poverty, struggle and class division existed everywhere in the world outside Britain as well, even in US.
Other than that a solid read.
Other than that a solid read.
November 16, 2022
3 young Victorian children are inducted into the fabled 'Butterfly Club' of eminent scientists and forward thinkers, who also happen to have mastered time travel! Charged with securing a Marconi radio they from a White Star line cruise ship they unknowingly choose to board the doomed Titanic to achieve their goal....
Bennett crams a lot into her story here, chiefly developing her own time travel rules (her chrono jumpers can only move forward from their own time, not back, which serves this story well, not knowing the fate of the Titanic). As well, she dances around historical facts, utilising real members of the Titanic's passengers and crew, that the main trio can interact with. Throwing in some elements of gender identity, and how the sexes were treated in the Victorian era there is a lot going on, but this only adds to the story rather than detract from it.
While some of the time travel logic doesn't really add up and several of the story points are a little contrived this is an entertaining ride, with three distinct main characters that will hopefully go on to have many more adventures.
Bennett crams a lot into her story here, chiefly developing her own time travel rules (her chrono jumpers can only move forward from their own time, not back, which serves this story well, not knowing the fate of the Titanic). As well, she dances around historical facts, utilising real members of the Titanic's passengers and crew, that the main trio can interact with. Throwing in some elements of gender identity, and how the sexes were treated in the Victorian era there is a lot going on, but this only adds to the story rather than detract from it.
While some of the time travel logic doesn't really add up and several of the story points are a little contrived this is an entertaining ride, with three distinct main characters that will hopefully go on to have many more adventures.
December 7, 2022
3.2
Cute story, more adventure than mystery but with a bit of the latter also. The weakest part, which requires some suspension of disbelief, is probably the beginning, setting up the adventure. For a society made up of the smartest minds, you'd think they could've planned things a bit better (at all, actually), before sending off three kids to the future (because what can go wrong, huh). Once in the Titanic the kids also had to pretend they were much older, and nobody seemed to notice despite the different jobs they had to take up (or pretend to). But overall sure, a quick, fun read.
Cute story, more adventure than mystery but with a bit of the latter also. The weakest part, which requires some suspension of disbelief, is probably the beginning, setting up the adventure. For a society made up of the smartest minds, you'd think they could've planned things a bit better (at all, actually), before sending off three kids to the future (because what can go wrong, huh). Once in the Titanic the kids also had to pretend they were much older, and nobody seemed to notice despite the different jobs they had to take up (or pretend to). But overall sure, a quick, fun read.
August 11, 2024
This was such an enjoyable read. Three Victorian children, part of the enigmatic Butterfly Club, travel to the future to 1912 to bring back a radio to their time and end up on the doomed Titanic. Peppered with historical facts, real people and comments that hit differently in hindsight, this book mixes time loops, the butterfly effect and adventure. And after that cliffhanger, I want to see what the trio get up next.
I know this is intended for middle grade audiences so it is fitting the children get to go on the adventure but I have to say it was slightly disbelieving that the adults just let them go into danger without prior time travel knowledge.
I know this is intended for middle grade audiences so it is fitting the children get to go on the adventure but I have to say it was slightly disbelieving that the adults just let them go into danger without prior time travel knowledge.
February 15, 2025
Imagine time travelling to a disastrous event and then changing the outcome of that event. That's exactly what happens to the children in this story. They're sent forwards in time to collect a piece of technology that hasn't been invented yet. Unfortunately, the children end up on the Titanic days before it sinks. They have to use some quick thinking and sneaky tactics to help them (plus a bit of time travel magic!).
November 12, 2023
Absolutely loved this, I was immediately hooked when I read "time traveling thieves." I cannot explain how much I love the friendship between Adain and Luna. (IF they were adults I would have DEFINETLY shipped them.) The end tho... I ordered the second book after I finished
April 21, 2025
A kids’ book that a parent enjoys reading to them - imagine that! 😉 Fun little story and we are now keen to read more of the series. Lost one star because my Titanic-obsessed son said there were factual inaccuracies about the ship 🤭
August 12, 2025
A lively blend of history, adventure, and time-travel intrigue, Bennett’s tale whisks readers from Victorian London to the doomed Titanic. Clever plotting and spirited characters shine, though younger readers may enjoy it most. An engaging start to a series with both peril and fun…
March 13, 2022
Clever and creative with some solid social lessons worked in. Will recommend to my 11-year old nephews!
April 26, 2022
I had a really fun time reading it. I loved the charcters and their stories. I also loved the adventure in this book and I can't wait to read the next book in this series.
January 19, 2023
I loved this! Such a clever set up with the society, and then set on the Titanic which kept me gripped, wondering how they were going to escape the infamous ship. Wonderful MG adventure.
March 9, 2023
I'm sure this is a great book for kids, but I couldn't get into it.
July 8, 2023
read on family roadtrip
August 30, 2023
This was good, but there were too many inaccuracies for the book to be truly brilliant.
January 27, 2024
The perfect blend of history, mystery, adventure and time-travel.
A MG book for readers of all ages.
A MG book for readers of all ages.
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