A Timeless Classic

A Stitch In Time by Penelope Lively is a children’s classic that can be enjoyed by anyone at any time.

First published in 1976, the action in this timeless classic is in 1975. It is set over the summer holidays in Lyme Regis. Life was simpler then – with picnics, hide and seek, books on rainy afternoons, collecting fossils. No modern technology or disturbance from mobile phones.

The two holidaying families contrast sharply. Maria and her parents are quiet. Martin and his family are loud and gregarious.

Childhood is a carefree time where we make memories. It is also a time of over active imaginations and imaginary friends. Children seem more sensitive to the past whereas adults concentrate on the here and now.

A Stitch In Time is a delightful read that transported me back to my childhood. Like Maria in the story, I too was eleven in the summer of 1975.

A children’s classic to be forever enjoyed by generations of adults and children alike.

JULIA WILSON