The Time Engine

🕰️🌀🪑📓

by Lindsay Galvin

★★★★

Things I loved:

🚀 Fast-paced, exciting adventure throughout
🕰️ Brilliant present-and-past time twists
🧠 Learning about history felt fun
📚 Easy to read, builds vocabulary
⭐ A real page-turning story
🎨 Helpful illustrations

At a glance

✍🏼 Author: Lucy Galvin

🎨 Cover artist: Kristina Kister

📅 Release Date: 21st May 2026

📚 Book type: Illustrated chapter, Barrington Stoke (Dyslexia-friendly), 112 pages

🌟 Reader level: Growing (8+)

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Review

I read The Time Engine by Lindsay Galvin after really enjoying her other Barrington Stoke book, The Elixir. Both stories mix the present day with real people from history, which makes them feel exciting and a bit like time-travel adventures. If you like stories where the past suddenly connects with today, this one is a great pick.

This book has adventure, mystery and suspense, so it keeps you turning the pages. I loved how it introduces readers to amazing historical figures like Ada Lovelace in a fun, easy-to-understand way — you learn interesting things without it ever feeling like a lesson. If you love maths, this may also be a great book to try; Ava Lovelace was a famous English writer and mathematician who contributed to the development and success of the computer!

The language in this book is clear and easy to follow, but there are also some new words to help build your vocabulary as you read. The font is lovely and big, and each page is well-spaced and doesn't feel overwhelming for readers who struggle with longer chapter books.

The Time Engine is a really enjoyable, confidence-boosting book that I’ll definitely be recommending to Year 4+.

Blurb

Returning early from school one day, Eric hears a mysterious thump in the attic. It quickly becomes clear that his brilliant mathematician mother is hiding something from him, and when Eric investigates, he discovers a mysterious machine, the purpose of which isn’t clear. When Eric manages to get the machine to work, he finds himself whisked back in time to the nineteenth century, where he meets his famous ancestor, Ada Lovelace.

But will she be able to help him return to the future before the fabric of time is damaged with possibly terrifying consequences?