A child, Fiora, (when I say a child, I mean a 16-year-old teen) is dumped on an ageing cobbler’s doorstep. She has little money and is the daughter of the fortune teller, therefore a child to be feared. And her parents have recently succumbed to the influenza epidemic, so could be diseased. Fiora has sass, but the cobbler takes her in, rather than see her sent to the orphanage.

That’s the easy bit. Because the story is about time, not wanting it to progress, I think. Fiora has inherited a magical curtain, and this piece of cloth, though Fiora isn’t adept at managing its powers, tells her the old man will die of a heart attack—and soon. So she manages to stop time. Nothing flowers or blooms. There’s a girl in the block of flats who stays pregnant. They’re growing tomatoes, and they won’t ripen. The parents of the two brats in the block of flats continue to be sick, to suffer the epidemic like a bad old Ground Hog Day.

But relationships kick on. Friendships are made, and a love story manages to take root.

The crux of the tale is in Fiora, accepting that life has to travel. Folk have to die, and if she doesn’t allow time to flow, then she’ll be forever trapped in her own Infinite Now. Oh yeah, I got the title in.

It’s a great read. It’s historical and magical with sci-fi thrown in. I loved this book.

Big old Five, yup, Five Koalas