This was re-written as the first chapter of her first novel for children, The Summer Birds.

One story written for this collection was too long to include. Her first publication was The China People (1960), a collection of literary fairy tales for young people. Penelope Farmer lives in Lanzarote on the Canary Islands. The twins have an older brother, Tim, and a younger sister, Sally.Īfter attending a boarding school, she read history at St Anne’s College, Oxford and did postgraduate work at Bedford College, University of London. Throughout Farmer’s life, being a twin has been a defining element of her understanding of her identity. Her parents and the medical staff at the hospital were not aware of her presence until some twenty-five minutes after the birth of her older twin sister, Judith. Penelope Farmer was born as a fraternal twin in Westerham, Kent, on 14 June 1939. However, the situation becomes more than tricky when Charlotte then finds herself trapped in 1918, seemingly with no way out!įarmer’s prose is absolutely beautiful throughout this book, sharply pulling the reader into the book through her rich description of the sights, sounds and smells that Charlotte experiences.Ĭharlotte Sometimes is the kind is book that will transport the reader to another place and time.Penelope Farmer is a British writer of books for children and adults. Things become tricky for Charlotte, regularly swapping identities and keeping up the pretence among her fellow pupils and teachers. The time travel becomes a regular occurrence, taking place every night, and Charlotte and Clare communicate with each other in a diary which they hide in one of the hollow posts in the magical bed that they share. The next day she wakes up to find herself in the same bed, same dorm, same school, but with one big difference… Charlotte finds that overnight she has become a girl called Clare and has been transported back in time to 1918! The story begins when Charlotte, a shy new girl at a boarding school, chooses a bed next to the window in her new dormitory which she is strangely drawn to.

I, myself, first read this book when I was 15 and when I re-read it years later as an adult, found it no less an enchanting read. Written by Penelope Farmer and first published in 1969, it will delight children, teens and adults. Here is my first children’s book review: Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer…Ĭharlotte Sometimes is a classic tale of mystery, time travel and identity. If you are looking for ideas of great books for your children to read over the Summer months and beyond, I have decided to start sharing books that my own children and I have particularly enjoyed to inspire you!

Penelope farmer