Ransom Riggs (2011)
(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)
I enjoyed this book, but I probably would've liked it had I listened to it in longer, uninterrupted sessions. I started listening as I walked to the train in the mornings and when I run errands, and that interrupted the flow a bit.
The children in Miss Peregrine's home are peculiar in the way that the children in Prof Xavier's home are peculiar. They all have some kind of mutant ability. Miss Peregrine herself is peculiar as she can turn into a bird, a peregrine, naturally, which is helpful because birds are time travelers.
The protagonist is Jacob Magellan Portman, whose late grandfather Abraham used to tell him fantastic stories running from man-eating monsters, and living with peculiar children in a secret home guarded by "a wise old bird." Jacob has nightmares about fantastic creatures and sees a psychiatrist who eventually convinces the father to take Jacob to the Welsh island of Cairnholm, so he can explore the orphanage and maybe get some answers about some letters his grandfather left.
Unfortunately, the orphanage didn't survive the war and everyone is long gone.
But, really, it isn't. The orphanage is in a loop maintained by Miss Peregrine that repeats the same 24-hour period. If you go into town from the orphanage, you'll always experience the same day (and no one there will remember the events from the previous iteration). However, if you exit by the path that Jacob entered, you will appear modern day. And of the children who leave will sooner or later revert to their actual age, which would be in their 70s.
There are dangers in the past as well as in the present, and Jacob's father doesn't believe any of it ... at first.
This was an enjoyable book to listen to. It's listed as a young adult fantasy, while the movie is listed as a dark fantasy. I guess that Tim Burton heavily accented the dangers of the villains in the story.
If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.
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