I don’t remember this book. First published in 2001, it’s a novel for older children about a boy in care. I don’t doubt that it was a good read, but so many library books made the journey to my house in the early 2000s that I’d be unable to recall most of them. This book is not to be confused with another of the same title, which is about Australian ornithology (makes sense). Rachel Anderson, I’ve discovered, has a nice website, which tell us that she was born in 1943 and has many grandchildren. According to her bibliography, the first of her books was published in 1963 and the most recent in 2007.

Catch up with recent time-travel adventures: The Last Vampire, Jo’s Boys, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants.