Tanglewreck

Tanglewreck
Jeanette Winterson
Published by Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books, 2007; ISBN 1599900815
Recommended reading age: 12 and up

Summary:
A scientist and an alchemist are both in search of the Timekeeper—a sort of magical clock that controls time. When the alchemist, Able Darkwater, decides his ward Silver knows the Timekeeper’s location, he kidnaps her, hoping to wrest the information from her memory. With the help of a boy named Gabriel, Silver escapes Darkwater’s house and goes in search of the Timekeeper. Along with this main plot, Winterson includes various adventures like a disappearing school bus and a quantum cat.

Review:
Jeanette Winterson and children’s literature are two of my favorite things. Imagine my delight, then, when the two combined! Although I expected a tiny bit more from Tanglewreck, I truly enjoyed the adventure. As usual, Winterson proves to have exquisite writing, a beautiful imagination, and a bottomless well of knowledge. She’s the only writer I know who could convincingly describe a black hole, or successfully put quantum physics into a children’s book. Although it could prove a good read for smart children, I think Tanglewreck would be best appreciated by young adult audiences. It’s a good pick for fans of A Wrinkle in Time, Jeanette Winterson, The Phantom Tollbooth, and Alice in Wonderland.