In this fast-paced young adult mystery, Printz Honor winner Sally Gardner brings London to life as she explores crime, poverty, and ignorance over the span of almost two centuries, as a young man is given the opportunity to go back in time in order to make sense of the present.   A fresh start is what he needs. Will he find it in the past or the present?   AJ Flynn has just failed all but one of his major exams, and at almost seventeen years old, he sees a future that’s far from rosy. So when he’s offered a junior clerk position at a London law firm, he hopes his life is about to change—and it does, but he could never have imagined how much. While on the job, AJ finds an old key labeled with his birth date, and he’s determined to find the door it will open. When he does just that, AJ and his group of scrappy friends begin a series of amazing journeys to the past—1830, to be exact. And they quickly realize that hardship, treachery, and love haven’t changed too much in almost two hundred years. When they discover a crime that only they can solve, the boys go from wayward youths to intrepid young men with a purpose in life. But with enemies all around, can they unravel the mysteries of the past before the past unravels them? Gr 7 Up—AJ Flynn is a typical underachiever. He has failed all but one of his final exams, and now that he is 17, his future seems grim. Despite his less than stellar academic career, AJ lands an interview with a prestigious London law firm thanks to his mother's connections. Once he is hired, AJ finds a key that opens a door to the past—1830 London. During his journey between worlds, AJ has a decision to make. Should he stay in the present or start a new life in the past? Gardner creates a world where a door that connects the present to the past seems believable. She anchors each version of the city using the appropriate landmarks of London, past and present. The characters feel universal, and many teens will be able to connect to their hopes and dreams. The pacing and plot development are seamless, which adds to the story's easy readability. VERDICT Recommended for general purchase for YA collections.—Jeni Tahaney, Duncanville High School Library, TX "Skillfully blending time travel, intrigue, and social commentary, Gardner ( Maggot Moon ) delivers a thought-provoking page-turner."-- Publishers Weekly "The characters feel universal, and many teens will . . . connect to their hopes and dreams."-- SLJ "A genre-blending novel with elements of contemporary realism, fantasy, historical fiction, murder mystery, and romance. An original time-travel novel."-- Booklist "Gardner's prose, peppered with colorful metaphors and period language, moves the plot along quickly, sketching out a pungent, vivid world in both present and past."-- Horn Book Magazine "The . . .  time-travel mystery has verve."-- Kirkus Reviews SALLY GARDNER is a multi-award-winning novelist whose Maggot Moon was a Michael L. Printz Honor Book and in the UK won both the Costa Children’s Book Award and the Carnegie Medal. Gardner’s genre-defying novel The Double Shadow received great critical acclaim and was long-listed for the Carnegie Medal. The Red Necklace (shortlisted for the Guardian Book Prize) and The Silver Blade are set during the French Revolution; the film rights for both have been purchased by Dominic West. Gardner also won the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize for her debut novel, I, Coriander. She is the author of the popular middle grade detective series Wings & Co. Visit her online at sallygardner.net and follow @TheSallyGardner on Twitter. Chapter 1     “You will never amount to anything, AJ Flynn. Not with one GCSE.”   Here she went again, drumming into him the heavy-metal sentence of failure. But today, a month after he’d received his disastrous GCSE results, his mum’s rage seemed to have developed a purpose. This time her fury was accompanied by a culinary cacophony, as if the pots and pans were personally responsible.   “Do you know what you are?” she continued, slamming a cupboard door and clanking the frying pan down on the stove. The question was more a flying saucepan lid than anything requiring an answer. “Shall I tell you?”   AJ knew of no way to stop her.   “A waste of space, that’s what you are. Sixteen years and what’s to show for it? One bleeding GCSE.”   AJ stood in the small kitchen of their three-bedroom flat while his mother peeled tough pink strips of bacon into the frying pan and let them fizzle in the fat. In such close proximity, AJ’s only protection was to imagine her as the monster from the depths of despair, a red reptile with a poison tongue. Here it went, lashing out again. If you let it strike you it could cause serious damage.   “You’ve been nothing but trouble since the day you were born. Well, don’t think that Frank is going to let you slouch round the flat doing nothing.”   From the lounge came the voice of Frank.   “Jan,” he shouted, “bring us a beer.”   Frank