This is a really interesting book that feeds your imagination and makes you think very hard.

I read it as soon as I had finished the second book in Damian Dibbens' History Keepers series and in a way the books are based on similar ideas. The main character in this book is Leo Novikov, an American boy who has just failed to get into the school that his sister attends.

He doesn't have a very high opinion of himself but as the book continues we find out that he is a clever, brave and inventive boy. This book moves from the present, to the future as well as to the past so you have to concentrate on what is happening so that you won't be confused.

Leo sees a miniature version of himself wearing old fashioned clothes and standing with a girl with whom he immediately falls in love. The confusing part of this is that Leo is older than he is in real time and that's what shows that he is experiencing something that happens in the future.

Leo becomes involved in the New York Circulating Repository and there he meets Jaya, the girl from the future. They have amazing adventures together which take them across the Atlantic as well as into different times. Will they be able to save New York?

What I love about this book is the way in which all the amazing equipment that is used has its source in science fiction books that have already been written such as The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. I have heard of some of the books that are mentioned but haven't read them so I shall certainly look for some of them in the library.

In spite of their extraordinary abilities Leo and Jaya are very convincing likeable characters. I shall look out for more books by Polly Shulman.

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