Taylor, Janet B. Into The Dim.

Taylor, Janet B.  Into The Dim.  Houghton Mifflin     2016  428p  $17.99  ISBN 978-0-544-60200-7  ms/hs  Science fiction      VG-BN

Hope, a present-day sixteen-year-old, must rescue her mother from 12^th-century England by joining forces with a secret society of time travelers.    The story starts with Hope feeling out of place with her step father’s very southern family. It seems she doesn’t resemble anyone or fit in with their interests. Her eidetic memory and overboard claustrophobic quirks definitely alienate her from others in the family.

Her mother was killed in a natural disaster when she was delivering a speech at a history conference in a foreign country. Her step father wants to take a trip with a new girl friend, so he presents Hope with the choice of staying with his mother or going to Scotland to visit her mother’s sister’s family. Hope chooses Scotland, where she learns that her mother is still alive and trapped in the age of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

In this novel Hope joins the secret society of Time Travelers (Viators) and uses her gift of unusual memory abilities to cross the Dim and go back in time to rescue her mother from the brutality of political intrigue in the medieval world.

The author has written a fast-paced novel for young adults that will appeal to both science fiction and fantasy writers.      

Time travel-Fiction                                   --Linda McNeil