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kailey_luminouslibro's review against another edition
4.0
There is nothing like Boston's writing! She can take a simple story, and make it full of action and meaning. She can introduce a single character, and immediately you are completely invested in this person's world.
In this book, the magical stories of Green Knowe are told from the perspective of Roger d'Oldknow, whose father is building the new manor house of Green Knowe in the times of the Normans and Saxons. Roger is worried that the house he loves won't last or stand the test of time, but when he is whisked into the future, he sees the house in all its beauty and his descendants living there in peace.
Roger is a spirited and energetic person, with an eye for glory in even the small but important things. He truly cares about Green Knowe, and wants to see it prosper. I loved how protective he is of his family and how he feels responsible for everyone on his land.
He's also a lonely person, so when he discovers the other children in different times, he is so delighted to have people to relate to and have adventures with. And as the reader, I felt all this right along with him. I was that lonely person delighted to find companionship! I was the young person looking for some fun and adventure and wondering what the future would hold. The writing draws you in so entirely!
It was interesting to visit Tolly and Linnet and Alexander and everyone from the other side of time, since we've already heard their stories in the previous books. What a rich history that house has! You can really feel the centuries of time stretched out before you in this book. Brilliant writing!
In this book, the magical stories of Green Knowe are told from the perspective of Roger d'Oldknow, whose father is building the new manor house of Green Knowe in the times of the Normans and Saxons. Roger is worried that the house he loves won't last or stand the test of time, but when he is whisked into the future, he sees the house in all its beauty and his descendants living there in peace.
Roger is a spirited and energetic person, with an eye for glory in even the small but important things. He truly cares about Green Knowe, and wants to see it prosper. I loved how protective he is of his family and how he feels responsible for everyone on his land.
He's also a lonely person, so when he discovers the other children in different times, he is so delighted to have people to relate to and have adventures with. And as the reader, I felt all this right along with him. I was that lonely person delighted to find companionship! I was the young person looking for some fun and adventure and wondering what the future would hold. The writing draws you in so entirely!
It was interesting to visit Tolly and Linnet and Alexander and everyone from the other side of time, since we've already heard their stories in the previous books. What a rich history that house has! You can really feel the centuries of time stretched out before you in this book. Brilliant writing!
kiraly's review against another edition
3.0
A fitting end to the series, and with parallels to the first book. A lonely child falls in love with a house. He makes friends who also love the house, and what does it matter that they all live hundreds of years apart? It was nice to see a reunion of all the others from the previous books, and to see how someone meeting others from the future comes to understand the experience. Roger's reaction to the Green Knowe of Susan's and Tolly's times is particularly interesting. The only thing lacking is a driving plot, which is understandable given the brevity of this book compared to some of the others.
ashcarpelibrum's review against another edition
5.0
What a great book giving a background on how it all started. I'm excited to read the others in between:)
jennyanydots's review
4.0
Originally read in December 2013, re-read in July 2015 as part of more general read through of the series. Review below from 2013.
One I hadn't read before, but I really liked this one. It picked up the 16th century Oldknows from The Children of Green Knowe, the C19th ones from the Chimneys etc and C20th Tolly from both books, and introduced all of the children to the Norman Roger d'Aulneaux, whose father is building Green Knowe in the C12th century. I thought the time slip aspects were well written, and my only complaint is that I'd have liked it to be twice as long. As a personal interest, the author had borrowed the St Christopher statue I wrote my dissertation on to stand in the garden of Green Knowe, and in this one she described the sculptor actually carving him while the house was being built. Ok, she set the book in 1120, when her house was first built, and the statue probably dates to 1400, plus or minus 20 years (and potentially to a more precise 1391), but when she wrote the book she hadn't seen him in almost 40 years and I love how accurate her description of him is. I've seen the film based on Chimneys (filmed as From Time to Time, if anyone is interested in seeking it out, and Maggie Smith is wonderful), but never read it, so I'm keen to seek that one out next year. And there's one more left in the series, An Enemy at GK. I've now read all the ones I have so far though, so I'd better try and motivate myself to get on and finish Larkrise to Candleford, which was started early enough to have been book 185, had I not kept moving on to more interesting books instead! It would be nice to complete it this year though.
One I hadn't read before, but I really liked this one. It picked up the 16th century Oldknows from The Children of Green Knowe, the C19th ones from the Chimneys etc and C20th Tolly from both books, and introduced all of the children to the Norman Roger d'Aulneaux, whose father is building Green Knowe in the C12th century. I thought the time slip aspects were well written, and my only complaint is that I'd have liked it to be twice as long. As a personal interest, the author had borrowed the St Christopher statue I wrote my dissertation on to stand in the garden of Green Knowe, and in this one she described the sculptor actually carving him while the house was being built. Ok, she set the book in 1120, when her house was first built, and the statue probably dates to 1400, plus or minus 20 years (and potentially to a more precise 1391), but when she wrote the book she hadn't seen him in almost 40 years and I love how accurate her description of him is. I've seen the film based on Chimneys (filmed as From Time to Time, if anyone is interested in seeking it out, and Maggie Smith is wonderful), but never read it, so I'm keen to seek that one out next year. And there's one more left in the series, An Enemy at GK. I've now read all the ones I have so far though, so I'd better try and motivate myself to get on and finish Larkrise to Candleford, which was started early enough to have been book 185, had I not kept moving on to more interesting books instead! It would be nice to complete it this year though.
pers's review
4.0
After 'Children' and 'Chimneys', this is my favourite of the Green Knowe books - not least because it involves time-travel, for which I'm an absolute sucker!
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