Although this story is set in 2001, the fabric of time itself fluctuates in Peck's (Martin and John
, for adults) thrilling debut novel for young people. Following the 9/11 attacks, Susan and her half-brothers, Charles and Murray (could the brothers' names be a nod to Charles Wallace Murray, one of the time-traveling children in Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time
?) are sent to live with their Uncle Farley in Canada, until things are calmer in America. But the children notice strange things about the boat-like mansion that is to be their new home: Drift House seems "crooked," a dumbwaiter magically delivers whatever food they desire, and Uncle Farley's parrot has a better-than-average grasp of the English language. When they awake one morning to find the house adrift on the Sea of Time, Uncle Farley reveals that Drift House is a "transtemporal vessel," capable of navigating time. Murray, the youngest, disappears into the dumbwaiter and returns with hazy memories of his own future, and Susan is drafted by mermaids for a special mission. Peck depicts an affectionate bond among the siblings (Charles, brilliant but ignored as the middle sibling states, "I am not a boy-slave and I am not a baby and I am tired of being sent away!"), and an eccentric but credible guardian in Uncle Farley. Readers will flip madly through the many pages of this book to see how the siblings navigate the hazards on the Sea of Time and get Drift House safely back to shore. Ages 10-up. (Sept.)
