‘Excuse me, but are you going to try and murder me, again?’

A Dream Sickness is sweeping the land. Those afflicted suddenly speak in ancient languages and bake strange cakes. This all sounds very fascinating and delicious until someone hands you a flamingo-tongue pie.

As the illness progresses, the time for showing off their new old skills diminishes as they begin to sleep. And then sleep some more.

Trilby’s mother now has the ability to recreate ancient Egyptian hairstyles. When she’s not sleeping, that is.

Trilby’s quest for a way to help her mother leads her to Lost in Time Antiques at Nowhere Else Pier. Before long Trilby becomes the Time Keeper, travels to the Island Between Time, finds the Passage of Time and experiences both lots of time and no time at all. It’s actually all very timely.

During her quirky, unusual, unconventional, out of the ordinary travels, “reasonably nice” Trilby meets the Time Guild and bureaucrats from the Office of the Ministry of the Board of the Department of the Appropriate Division for the Committee of the Commission for the Corporation of the Agency of Association for Managers Administering Time. I’m pretty sure the pencil-pusher responsible for the unpronounceable acronym that allegedly shortens this title also named the departments at my previous workplace.

I really liked Thumbelina and the narrator, but my favourite character was shut up Brian. I definitely want to spend more outside of time with him.

Trilby’s love of crosswords is reflected in the chapter headings and I loved playing along. Handy hint: If you’re stuck, you may find the answer as you read the chapter. Although sometimes you won’t because … reasons. No, I’m not going to tell you. You can figure it out for yourself. My apologies; I must have been spending too much time around the rude cats.

There’s only one niggle my brain is still trying to work out: if time doesn’t pass on the Island Between Time, how does day become night?

When you finish reading this book please feel free to join me at the edge of the cliff I’m currently hanging onto. The first in a series, this book introduces the characters and the world, explains how time does and doesn’t work here and answers some of the questions it raises.

There’s still plenty of fun, entertainment, enjoyment, delight to look forward to. I’ll definitely be accepting my invitation to join Trilby and her new friends when they continue their adventure.

“You are never as trapped as a man in a top hat would have you believe.”

And there’s always time for cake.

Thank you so much to Hachette Australia for the opportunity to read this book. I’m rounding up from 4.5 stars.