Ross Welford, Time Travelling with a Tortoise, HarperCollins Publishers, March 2024, 272 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780008544775
Time travelling is a complicated business. In Time Travelling with a Hamster, Al Chaudhury travelled back in time to save his father’s life, and at the start of the sequel – Time Travelling with a Tortoise – it looks like he’s done just that. His father’s alive, his family is together, and if he can find and convince the girl who was his step-sister in the other timeline that all this time travel stuff is real then maybe he and Carly can be friends in this timeline too. But nothing is straightforward when multiverse time travel is involved.
Al got his happy ending, but this new timeline isn’t free of trouble – his beloved Grandpa Byron is involved in a life-threatening accident, and in trying to undo that Al ends up stuck in the way distant past with Carly, his former bully Paulie, and his hamster Alan Sheerer, surrounded by very hungry dinosaurs. Escaping from the prehistoric past leaves Al ping-ponging through the possible paths his life could take, trying to fix the damage that was done when he ripped through the multidimensional fabric.
It definitely helps to read Time Travelling with a Hamster and Time Travelling with a Tortoise as two parts of the same story. There are enough clues in Time Travelling with a Tortoise to infer what happened previously, but it builds on the events of the first book and brings the story full circle.
The action is solid and packs a punch, with just the right touch of humour to leaven the tension as Al and his friends face dinosaurs, serious police enquiries, and loss. And there are hamsters, and a prehistoric tortoise called Tortellini along for the ride.
The time travel and multidimensional element brings up a lot of fascinating philosophical ideas to consider, but Time Travelling with a Tortoise also delves into dealing with death and loss. The motivation that kicks off Al’s time travelling adventures in the first place is the death of his father, and Al’s attempts to bring him back. Saving his father changes things in ways that Al could never anticipate and brings other losses. Themes of accepting what is and appreciating what you have run through the book.
Rather than weighing down the story, all of this gives just the right depth to a fabulous action-packed adventure full of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff* to consider for boys and girls aged 9 to 12 who enjoyed Andromache Between Worlds by Gabriel Bergmoser, or A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. It’s also going to appeal to any readers who loved the Avengers: Endgame movie and spent far too long thinking about the complications space and time afterwards.
Reviewed by Emily Clarke
*Dr Who Season 3 episode 10: ‘Blink’
